Philippine Canadian Inquirer #244

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER NOVEMBER 18, 2016

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VOL. 11 NO. 244

REBUILDING LIVES

A resettlement site for survivors of “Yolanda” is still being completed in Tacloban City three years after the tragedy. It will be called Pope Francis Village. Story on page 4.

Philippine president wants to be friends with Trump, Putin

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BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press

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MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippine president, who has been hostile to Barack Obama for criticizing his deadly anti-drug crackdown, has congratulated Donald Trump for a “well-deserved victory” and said he is excited to meet Rus-

sian leader Vladimir Putin at an upcoming Asia-Pacific summit.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been criticized for his foul language and the drug crackdown, gave upbeat remarks about the president-elect and Putin in a late Tuesday news conference in Manila.

President blames media for ‘trivial’ Robredo remarks

Back to the shadows: Trump win has hundreds of thousands worried they must hide ❱❱ PAGE 23

❱❱ PAGE 6 Philippine president

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS InFocus.canadianinquirer.net

JOANNE BONDOC / PDI

Digong, Donald seen hitting it off

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FRIDAY

Philippine News

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US, Philippine special forces Authorities to hold joint war drills seize PHP225-M shabu in Quezon City drug raid THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Markmanship events will proceed but will be confined to a camp, Hao said. The drills will also include mock sea interdictions, care for combat casualties and “combat” swimming drills, he said.

About 40 elite Filipino troops will participate in the exercises, Hao said. He declined to say how

clared that he would halt all joint combat exercises with the Americans, but later walked back on the threat, sparking unMANILA, PHILIPPINES — U.S. certainty among Philippine and and Philippine special forces U.S. officials. will begin annual combat exDuterte has said that only the ercises on Wednesday in a sign American side benefits from the such joint drills are continuing war games, and that China may despite vocal opposition by the become upset by the military Philippine president. manoeuvrs.

The Philippine U.S. and the Philarmy spokesman ippines are treaty Col. Benjamin allies, but Duterte Hao said the Balhas expressed his ance Piston exThis is an annual training event […] to foster an improved relationship of our desire to expand ercises will start armed forces. security ties with in the western China and Russia. province of PalaPhilippine dewan. Both sides fence officials have agreed to said last week that Duterte many Americans will take part. forego live-fire drills in the field agreed to allow a smaller num“This is an annual training during the monthlong exercisber of exercises with the U.S. event to test the basic warfightes, he said Tuesday. military to proceed after they ing skills of our soldiers and to Hao didn’t give a reason for dropping the live-fire manoeu- foster an improved relationship explained to him the benefits vrs, traditionally one of the of our armed forces,” Hao told the Philippines gains from the drills, which include civic achighlights of the exercises, but reporters. the Philippine defence departDuterte, who has been an- tions and disaster-response ment has said President Rodri- tagonistic toward the U.S. for exercises in one of the most go Duterte wants such overt as- its criticism of his deadly anti- catastrophe-prone countries in drug crackdown, publicly de- the world. ■ sault drills to be discontinued.

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — Authorities seized PHP225-million worth of suspected shabu in Barangay Manresa, Quezon City on Tuesday.

Joint elements of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (PNP-AIDG), Quezon City Police District (QCPD) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) served a search warrant at No. 1117 Banawe St., Barangay Manresa, Quezon City at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The search warrant was issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 1117.

Confiscated and seized during the raid were more or less

45 kilograms of white crystalline substance believed to be shabu, 27 packs of activated carbon, two weighing scales and one vehicle Mitsubishi Fusion colored black with plate number TQJ-847.

Arrested during the said operation were identified as Eduardo Dario, 62, jobless and resident of Marikina City; Rhea May Libira, 20, jobless, native of Balagtas, Bulacan; Gemma Rose Codera, 26, native of Masbate; and John Rey Bungcasan, 34, native of Dumaguete City.

All of the suspects were brought to the PNP-AIDG in Camp Crame, Quezon City for booking and preparation of charge for violation of Section 11 of Republic Act No. 9165, or the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.” ■

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PH wasn’t prepared for Yolanda, ‘institutional gaps’ unearthed

BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer A REVIEW commissioned by the Aquino administration showed the level of preparedness of the Philippines in dealing with the dangerous consequences of climate change such as devastating typhoons.

Less than a year before Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) struck, the World Bank, in cooperation with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Climate Change Commission (CCC), conducted a general public expenditure review of the climate policy of the Philippines (from 2012 through February 2013).

What the government managed to achieve from 2009 to March 2013 was a “paradigmatic shift away from disaster response to prevention,” said the review, titled “Getting a Grip on Climate Change in the Philippines: Executive Report” and prepared by the World Bank team led by Christophe Crepin.

Noting the passage of the Climate Change Act (CCA) and the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act (PDRRMA), the World Bank

found that conceptually, the climate policy framework was in place as climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) management policies had converged at the policy level.

Proactive approach

The report noted that before the CCA’s passage, programs on climate change had focused on mitigation. This was the most important development in the pre-Yolanda period, a positive development that gained wide praise from the international community.

Margareta Wahlstrom, former head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), described the CCA and PDRRMA as a “proactive approach to disaster risk governance.”

The Philippines then joined 86 countries that “set up formal national coordinating bodies for DRR, which created a common language, vision and understanding of the responsibility for program nationally,” Wahlstrom said an interview with the Inquirer.

Institutional gaps

But significant “institutional gaps” remained on the national and local levels, the report said.

Senator Loren Legarda.

For one, the CCC, the lead policymaking body that provides climate policy coordination and direction within the government, is a small national agency with broad scope and responsibilities but “limited local presence.”

The review found that coordination within the bureaucracy was a huge challenge, and countless barriers remained for closing these gaps. On climate action, it noted that the CCC “lacks the capacity to engage with all LGUs (local government units).”

Before the government could correct these institutional gaps, Yolanda struck on Nov. 8, 2013.

Funding loopholes

In 2012, Congress dealt with some funding loopholes in the two earlier laws by legislating Republic Act No. 10174, the People’s Survival Fund (PSF), to provide “long-term finance streams” or funding support for climate action.

Sen. Loren Legarda principally authored the CCA and the PSF, and cosponsored the PDRRMA. While the CCA and PDRRM spelled out the climate change policy of the Philippines, these laws had not been fully implemented for various reasons, principally because of then President Benigno Aquino III’s failure to convene the CCC right at the outset of his term that began in 2010.

The President sits as chair of the CCC, whose day-to-day operations, however, are run by the vice chair and two other commissioners.

For the first half of Aquino’s six-year term, DRR had not been his administration’s priority. He was even heavily criticized for the Yolanda debacle.

Only after the storm did Aquino become aggressive toward climate change adaptation, as he himself ordered the constitution of local chapters of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils (NDRRMC) as the LGUs’ first line of defense in times of calamities.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

sure had been passed since 2012. But the Yolanda debacle hastened the implementation of existing climate laws.

Congress provided the biggest impetus to climate action by unlocking “Quick Response Funds” (QRF) and Calamity Funds (CF) in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for DRR use in 2014. The QRF and CF allocations in the GAA show that a hazard-prone country like the Philippines spends billions of pesos yearly just for dealing with the impacts of climate change.

In hindsight, these much-needed funds could have been used for rural development and easing poverty.

Legarda lamented that the Aquino administration, through the National Housing Authority, had failed to use P20.7 billion earmarked in 2016 for housing assistance to Yolanda survivors.

Another P18.433 billion went to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) but was unreleased as of Sept. 30, 2016, she said.

“We hope that we can fasttrack the construction of permanent housing for the intended recipients if only to bring renewed hope to those who have survived the strongest typhoon to hit land,” Legarda said in a privilege speech on Monday, the eve of Yolanda’s third anniversary.

Legarda, chair of the Senate finance committee, reminded the 4-monthold Duterte administration that the NDRRMF, when this was legislated under the Aquino administration, was no longer just a calamity fund.

“We should use it to build resilience, reduce and prevent risks in our communities, and to take proactive action so that natural hazards will not turn into disasters that kill and maim our people, and impede our development,” she said.

Climate budget

In a recent interview, former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the P129 billion in the GAA for 2016—earmarked for climate expenditures—was a “huge investment” for dealing with climate change.

Response, calamity funds

No legislation or amendatory mea-

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❱❱ PAGE 13 PH wasn’t

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Philippine News

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NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Dela Rosa wants Lacson: Espinosa slay premeditated death penalty for drug dealers restored

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO AND TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY PERFECTO T. RAYMUNDO Philippines News Agency MANILA — “Death penalty for drug dealing has to be restored,” Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Tuesday said.

PNP chief aired this after inspecting an illegal drug warehouse in Quezon City, where police operatives equipped with search warrants, seized 45 kilos of suspected shabu worth Php 225 million on Tuesday afternoon.

The contraband was found inside a big cardboard box at No. 1117 Banawe Street, Barangay Manresa, Quezon City.

The drug operation was conducted by the operatives of the

PNP-Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Arrested during the raid were Eduardo Dario, 62, resident of Marikina City; Rhea May Libira, 20, native of Balagtas, Bulacan; Gemma Rose Codera, 26, native of Masbate; and John Rey Bungcasan, 34, native of Dumaguete City.

Delarosa said that many people have already died because of drugs, but the operation of the illegal drug traders continuous, adding that drug traders seemed to fear nothing at all because they knew that they could evade the law when arrested.

Hence, Dela Rosa said, it is now the right time to restore the death penalty. ■

Philippine president...

Asked whether his ties with America can improve under Trump, Duterte replied: “I’m sure, we have no quarrel. I can always be a friend to anybody, specially to a ... president, chief executive of another country.”

Duterte, who has been compared to Trump due to his devil-may-care irreverence to rivals and critics, said the U.S. president-elect was “the chosen leader of the people of the most powerful country in the world.”

“I trust in his judgment,” said Duterte, adding he expected Trump to be fair in dealing with illegal immigrants.

Filipinos make up one of the largest expatriate groups in the U.S. Duterte, 71, has had a frosty relationship with Obama and the U.S. government since he U.S. spoke out against his antidrug war that is thought to have left more than 4,000 drug suspects dead since July. At the height of his public outbursts, he told Obama to “go to hell” and announced his “separation” with America, his coun❰❰ 1

try’s treaty ally, during a state visit to China last month.

Duterte later walked back on that, saying what he meant was his desire to chart a foreign policy that would not overly lean on America.

But Duterte has publicly vowed to stop joint combat drills with the U.S. military and scale back other security engagements with Washington, although he has also softened up on those threats. Philippine defence officials announced last week that Duterte had agreed to allow a smaller number of joint military exercises, adding that overt assault drills would be discontinued.

The push away from Washington has been accompanied

by Duterte reaching out to China and Russia.

Duterte said he wants to meet with Putin, who he adds also loves guns and hunting, at this month’s APEC summit in Peru, and that he wants their countries to have strong ties.

“I will not ask for anything.

I want to be friends with him, I just want the two countries to be the best of friends,” he said. ■

“THERE’S ONE word to describe this: premeditated.”

That’s how Sen. Panfilo Lacson called the predawn police operation conducted by 19 officers of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of Eastern Visayas (Region 8) on Nov. 5 at the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City, which led to the killing of Albuerra Mayor Rolando Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap. Espinosa, 54, had earlier executed an affidavit implicating Sen. Leila de Lima and 225 government, military, police and judicial personnel in the alleged widespread illegal drug trade operated by his son Kerwin, 31, tagged as the No. 1 drug lord in Eastern Visayas, according to authorities.

During Thursday’s hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, Lacson had earlier described the slaying of Espinosa as a “clear case of extrajudicial killing”—a widespread concern in the war on drugs mounted by President Duterte after he took office on June 30.

Discrepancies

The committee, chaired by Lacson, heard testimony that at 3:49 a.m. on Nov. 5, the raiding team’s supervisor, Supt. Santi Noel Matira, called for forensic investigators to come, calling two offices to be sure, including the scene of the crime operatives (Soco). The team had been set to serve a search warrant on Espinosa, but did not enter the jail until 4:30 a.m.

Espinosa and Yap later turned up dead.

For Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief, discrepancies between official logs and police testimonies could only mean one thing.

“You have not even entered [the jail premises], you were already requesting for a Soco team? Were you anticipating that you were going to kill someone?” he said. “It’s like you were calling for a funeral parlor when there is no encounter yet.”

Lacson noted that the timewww.canadianinquirer.net

Senator Panfilo Lacson (right), chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, directs a question during the Senate inquiry on the killing of Mayor Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

line of Supt. Marvin Marcos, CIDG regional head, showed that the team entered the jail using a a bolt cutter at 4:30 a.m.

This was after jail guards, who the raiders claimed were “uncooperative,” were disarmed.

PO2 Jennifer Monge of the Regional Tactical Operations Center recorded in her logbook a 3:49 a.m. call from Matira, requesting for Soco investigators.

Matira had also called a police satellite office to make sure that a Soco team was on its way.

The team arrived at 5:58 a.m.

CIDG officers struggled to explain the discrepancy, with Marcos saying entries in his timeline were just approximations.

Matira did not deny making the calls, but asserted he did this only when he was sure that Espinosa no longer had vital signs.

Coordination

PNP Director Benjamin Magalong said calling for a Soco team before a police operation was not part of standard procedures.

Lacson ordered Matira to surrender his mobile phone to Magalong for forensic examination. The officer refused, invoking his right against selfincrimination.

Several senators also noted how the raiding team had failed to coordinate the operation with higher officials, considering the involvement of a highprofile detainee such as Espinosa.

“Considering that [it involved] a high-profile target, it’s a highprofile operation, we have this protocol that commanders

should always be informed,” Magalong said, adding that Marcos should have informed both the PNP regional head and the CIDG regional head.

The CIDG regional head, Chief Supt. Roel Obusan, and PNP regional head, Chief Supt.

Elmer Beltejar, testified that the raiding team made no coordination of their mission, a point raised by Sen. Ralph Recto.

Shallow testimonies

The Leyte provincial jail warden, Homobono Bardillon, said he was not informed of the operation.

Chief Insp. Calixto Canillas Jr., officer in charge of the PNP Regional Maritime Group Unit, said he was merely asked if his unit wanted to join.

“I wasn’t born yesterday to believe your shallow testimonies,” Sen. Manny Pacquiao said in Filipino. “You cannot make a fool out of the minds of the people listening now.”

At one point, Pacquiao, who is still nursing bruises from his weekend fight against American Jessie Vargas, said, “I wanted to ask you more questions, but my blood pressure is rising.”

Sen. Gregorio Honasan quipped: “I am worried because I notice that Senator Pacquiao’s headache is worse than when he fought Vargas.”

Pacquiao was piqued at the whole scenario of Espinosa’s death on Nov. 5, in which a police team gunned down Espinosa and Yap for allegedly putting up resistance while being served a search warrant behind bars. ❱❱ PAGE 10 Lacson: Espinosa

Philippine News

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President blames media for ‘trivial’ Robredo remarks

BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer WHAT’S ALL the fuss about my sexist jokes?

For the nth time, President Duterte on Wednesday chided the media for paying attention to the “triviality” of the remarks he had made about Vice President Leni Robredo’s knees, which she decried as “inappropriate” and “tasteless.”

“I do not stop being President just because I (make those kind of jokes). Do not exact a standard for me. I will do what I say and I say what I do,” a visibly irate Mr. Duterte told the Inquirer.

“So what’s the problem there? Why (make) an issue?

Sexist? There goes the media again. What should I say? It’s true anyway,” he continued. “Is that the trivialities of media?

It’s so trivial.”

He added: “You want to depict me as vulgar? You can have your day. It’s not my concern to impose this standard. Do not … cast aspersion on my jokes because I’m not a general. I’m a politician.”

Teasing Robredo

The President, who spoke with reporters before leaving for Thailand and Malaysia for his official visits, said he often teased Robredo for wearing short skirts, which exposed her knees.

“What’s so special about the body of a woman? Or the smooth knee of a woman? It only means she’s not going to

church,” he said.

Asked if his advances on the Vice President were necessary, Mr. Duterte said: “It is appropriate. As a matter of fact, it is good.”

Several young women, who were standing next to the President’s podium, applauded him, apparently unaffected by his justification of his risque comments.

At the commemoration of the third anniversary of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in Tacloban City on Tuesday, Mr. Duterte said he used to check out on the Vice President’s knees during their Cabinet meetings.

Vice President Leni Robredo presents the 3rd Jesse Robredo Leadership Award (JRLA) to South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance Fuentes (right) during the 2016 Galing Pook Awards ceremonies. The widow of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo has previously masked her discomfort onstage with a smile all the while that the President was speaking.

Inappropriate advances

He said she must have noticed him ogling at her as she had decided to just sit across him.

“I wanted to tell her, ‘Ma’am maybe next time you just wear shorts … But after our third meeting, she was already there at the far end of the table. I lost the view during the Cabinet meeting,” he said.

A day after Mr. Duterte made the statements, Robredo said while she initially chose to ignore the President’s statements, many were “bothered and offended by it.”

“As we all rightly should.

Tasteless remarks and inappropriate advances against women should have no place in our society. We should expect that most of all from our leaders,” Robredo said.

Immediately after the Tacloban event, Robredo told jour-

RICO H. BORJA / PNA

nalists that she was used to the President’s teasing.

But many observed that the widow of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, with whom she has three daughters, masked her discomfort onstage with a smile all the while that the President was speaking.

“When President Duterte made inappropriate remarks, I deliberately chose to ignore these. There are larger and more urgent issues we confront as a nation that demand our collective attention,” said the Vice President.

“But many were bothered and offended by it. As we all rightly should. Tasteless remarks and inappropriate advances against women should have no place in our society. We should expect that most of all from our leaders,” she said.

Sexist

Sen. Leila de Lima chimed in, describing as “sexist” the President’s statements.

De Lima, among Mr. Duterte’s fierce critics, has received her fair share of tirades from the President, particularly about her extramarital affairs and her alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade.

In Tacloban City on Tuesday, the President also asked Robredo in jest if rumors were true that she had found a boyfriend.

“Don’t be offended. Is it true? If it’s true, a congressman may be killed.”

Yesterday, he said that he made the comments because it was “necessary to make people laugh, for them to enjoy the occasion, because I was angry.”

“I was angry because after P42 billion for the NHA (Na-

tional Housing Authority) and P30 billion to the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), only 4,000 (families) have moved in to their new houses,” he said.

“It was to break the ice. That’s what I did.”

He said it was “natural” for politicians like him to deliver those kind of jokes after getting mad and “just to point out something.”

“You make a big issue about the knee?” he said. “I hope that next time … kindly go to important matters. Do not go into trivialities about the women’s knees. That’s what the media want. They will look for something to picture you as crass.” ■ With reports from Nikko Dizon and Tarra Quismundo

Sen. de Lima admits past affair with ex-driver-bodyguard PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — Previously mum about her relationship with her former driver-bodyguard and alleged drug money bagman, Ronnie Dayan, Senator Leila de Lima finally admitted that she indeed had a past affair with him.

De Lima made this admission in an exclusive interview with

broadcaster Winnie Monsod on GMA News TV on Monday night.

The former Justice Secretary said that her affair with Dayan, who was said to be married that time, lasted for “a few years.”

She claimed that Dayan was already separated from his wife.

Dayan resigned as her driver in 2015 and that their relationship ended before she ran as senator in the last June elections, she said.

She also denied that she funded his house in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan but merely contributed money to have it built.

When asked by Monsod why she fell for Dayan, de Lima revealed that they had become “so close” because she “trusted him.”

De Lima previously said that she refused to believe that Dayan himself was involved in illegal drug trade and was using her.

She currently faces charges www.canadianinquirer.net

before the Department of Justice (DOJ) after she was implicated in the proliferation of the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) where inmates testified she received money in exchange for their protection.

It was President Rodrigo Duterte who first exposed de Lima as having an illicit affair with Dayan.

She is also facing several ethics complaints including one

filed by the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption (VACC) grounded on the senator’s alleged violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act, another filed by former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officials Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala, citing the same violation and most recently another by high-profile inmate Jaybee Sebastian in response to her claim that Sebastian was a government asset. ■

Philippine News

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Zubiri bares reforms to ease doing business in PHL

BY LILYBETH G. ISON Philippines News Agency Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer, Inc. Correspondents Jane Moraleda Socorro Newland Bolet Arevalo Katherine Padilla Gerna Lane Sotana Administration Head Victoria Yong Graphic Designer Shanice Garcia Photographers Angelo Siglos Vic Vargas For photo submissions, please send to editor@canadianinquirer.net Operations and Marketing Head Laarni Liwanag (604) 551-3360 laarni.liwanag@canadianinquirer.net Advertising Sales Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net Nelson Wu (647) 521-5155 salestoronto@canadianinquirer.net nelson.wu@canadianinquirer.net Amelia Insigne (416) 574-5121 amelia.insigne@canadianinquirer.net Antonio Tampos (604) 460-9414 antonio. tampos@canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Editorial Assistant Christelle Tolisora Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition Philippine Canadian Inquirer is located at 11951 Hammersmith Way, Suite 108 Richmond, B.C. V7A 5H9 Canada Tel. No.: +1 (888) 668-6059, +1 (778) 889-3518 | Email: info@canadianinquirer.net, sales@ canadianinquirer.net Philippine Canadian Inquirer is published weekly every Friday.

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Member

MANILA — Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday bared reforms to make the country business-friendly for local entrepreneurs and foreign investors noting that the Philippines finished 2015 with a dismal record of 99th in the bottom pile of 190 countries surveyed by the World Bank Group on ease-of-doing-business (EODB).

“Statistically, we are smack at the midpoint, but, holistically we’re worse.

We fall behind Turkey (ranked 69th) which for the past two years has been embroiled in the Syrian war, South Africa (ranked 74th) which had to deal with drought and political strife and even Indonesia (ranked 91st) which suffers extensive forest fires for many successive years,” said Zubiri in his speech at Philippine Chamber of Commerce and “We try to grow our economy and drum up marketing promotions for our products abroad.

Industry (PCCI) General Membership However, internal weaknesses have made the bureaucracy lethargic. Antiquated rules, regulations meeting held at the Diamond Hotel in and laws constrict business activities. We shall simplify and streamline as much as possible.”

JOEY O. RAZON / PNA Manila.

Zubiri, however, noted that the Philippines in 2015 has accomplished some of Trade and Industry (DTI), BIR, De- nate information about EODB reforms,” reforms in doing business such as trans- partment of Information and Commu- the senator said. parency in building regulations which nication Technology (DICT), Securities “These reforms have been overdue made getting construction permits and Exchange Commission (SEC) and yesterday, and thus we recommend stiff easier; setting online system for filing Union of Local Government Associa- penalties for individuals and offices who and paying health contributions; estab- tions of the Philippines (ULAP), includ- make it hard for business start-ups and lishing online corporate income tax pay- ing the Leagues of Cities, Municipalities expansions. We are studying criminal ments, and, allowing offline completion and Provinces. and administrative penalties ranging of Value-Added-Tax (VAT) returns by b) Information sharing between and from imprisonment to perpetual disthe Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). by the LGUs, BIR, SEC and other con- qualification from public office, and, He said his proposed Ease of Doing cerned government agencies with the from suspension to dismissal from govBusiness involves local governments DICT establishing the automation plat- ernment service, respectively,” he addand national governed. ment agencies.

With the counFrom industry, mitry’s wealth in natucro- and small- enral resources and Antiquated rules, regulations and laws constrict trepreneurs, Zubiri excellence in hubusiness activities. We shall simplify and formulated his initial man capital, Zubiri streamline as much as possible. If we hold broad strokes of EODB said, “we can aspire business fairs and exhibitions for marketing, reforms, as follows: to be closer to our I shall also go on roadshows to disseminate a) License and perAsian neighbors information about EODB reforms. mits processes streamin terms of ease of lining, for all business doing business of types, not just in conwhich Singapore, struction — Specific Hong Kong and the time frame for approval of application form among government agencies; and Republic of Korea are among the world’s for permit on per agency basis; requirec) Competitiveness test shall be un- top 10 business-friendly economies.” ments and fees posted conspicuously in dertaken for every local ordinance setMeanwhile, Zubiri, during the open the premises and online in respective ting new requirements for existing and forum, said he favored the granting of website; Uniform checklist of require- new business types. emergency powers to President Rodrigo ments; “We try to grow our economy and Roa Duterte to speed up the procureAutomatic approval, deemed, if the drum up marketing promotions for our ment of transport and infrastructure agency fails to inform applicant of any products abroad. However, internal projects, which will pave the way for the error, omission or additional require- weaknesses have made the bureaucracy construction of faster and more reliable ment, beyond the set time frame; Re- lethargic. Antiquated rules, regulations transport services throughout the counnewal on the anniversary date; Longer and laws constrict business activities. try. validity periods; and Review of specific We shall simplify and streamline as This would also pave the way for the time frame for each business type every much as possible. If we hold business creation of a “unified traffic scheme” five years, exclusive of time frame for fairs and exhibitions for marketing, I which also forms part of easing doing automatic approval, by the Department shall also go on roadshows to dissemi- business in the country. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Philippine News

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Suspected Filipino militants Labor chief tells OFWs kidnap 6 Vietnamese sailors illegally working

BY JIM GOMEZ AND TRAN VAN MINH The Associated Press MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants attacked a Vietnamese cargo ship and kidnapped its captain and five crewmen off the southern Philippine island of Basilan early Friday, in the latest in a wave of sea assaults that have alarmed the region’s leaders.

About 10 gunmen boarded the MV Royal 16 at dawn off southern Basilan island, where the Abu Sayyaf is active, then fled with their captives in a speedboat, regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said, citing crewmen from another ship, MV Lorcon Iloilo, who provided help to the Vietnamese ship after the attack.

Tan said ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf militants are suspected in the raid.

In Vietnam, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said the MV Royal 16 was on its way to Indonesia from Vietnam’s northern port city of Hai Phong with 19 crew members and a cargo of cement when it was attacked.

The ship sent an alert at 3:31 a.m. when it was about 18 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of Basilan, the newspaper said, adding that six crew members were kidnapped.

After the attack, the cargo ship anchored safely at Zamboanga port, near Basilan, with the remaining 13 crew members, including one who suffered gunshot wounds in the arm, the newspaper said.

A Vietnam Maritime Admin-

istration official confirmed the attack, but gave no details. The Vietnamese agency has asked regional and international antipiracy agencies for help.

Friday’s attack happened a day after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak discussed ways to deal with the spike in piracy incidents.

Najib said at a news conference in Malaysia that Duterte had agreed to allow Malaysian security forces to enter Philippine waters while in “hot pursuit” of kidnappers.

“The ‘hot pursuit’ is a new development, this has been agreed to by President Duterte and President Jokowi and now with me,” Najib said, referring to Indonesian leader Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. “So the three countries will work to make it into a new standard operating procedure.”

“I appreciate him (Duterte) because it’s a very practical way of us helping each other because we really need to stamp out this kidnap for ransom because it is affecting the welfare, the security of not only the Sabahans but also foreigners who visit us in Sabah,” Najib said, referring to the Malaysian state on Borneo island near the southern Philippines.

After flying back to the Philippines, Duterte refused to provide details when asked about his discussion with Najib on the mounting number of attacks at sea.

Duterte has said the attacks embarrass him because the Abu Sayyaf perpetrators are based on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, an impoverished

region where the militants hold their hostages for ransom.

During a recent visit to Indonesia, Duterte said he discussed possible security strategies with Widodo.

Despite talks by the three countries on ratcheting up security, Abu Sayyaf gunmen and allied militants — part of a wider Muslim rebellion that has been raging in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation for decades — have continued attacks at sea this year, kidnapping Malaysian and Indonesian crewmen of slow-moving tugboats that are mostly pulling coal barges.

The security talks are complicated because the Philippines and Malaysia have had territorial issues, and questions have arisen about how far Malaysian authorities chasing militants can go as they approach Philippine territory. In initial talks, the countries have considered establishing a more secure sea lane for commercial vessels as well as co-ordinated law enforcement actions, including sea and air patrols.

Indonesia has restricted coal shipments to the Philippines because of the danger.

Although most of their targets have been tugboats, which are easy to board, the militants attacked an ocean-going South Korean cargo ship for the first time about two weeks ago off southern Tawi Tawi province, near Sulu, abducting its South Korean skipper and a Filipino crewman. ■ Minh reported from Hanoi, Vietnam. AP video journalist Syawalludin Zain in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.

in US to go home, gov’t to give assistance PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — The Department of Labor and Employment has urged Filipinos who are working illegally in the United States to return to the country, in the wake of US President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III noted that it would be better for undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to go back to the Philippines and not wait for their deportation.

“In the meantime, they could act to legalize their stay there,” he said.

Bello assured returning Filipinos that the government is ready to provide them assistance.

“The President’s end program is to bring back our OFWs, so we have already established a mechanism for business and employ-

ment opportunities,” he said.

Bello said he is not worried if the US government pushes through with its plan to deport undocumented foreign workers, noting that the move would only have a minimal effect on the Philippines since most of its OFWs in the US are legally employed.

“Most of our OFWs there are documented and are legal, especially our seafarers. Most of them are based in Florida. Ito yung mga manning itong mga cruise ships. (They are those who are manning cruise ships.) So, yung effect niyon will be very minimal sa aking estimate. (So, its effect, in my estimate, is very minimal.)

Wala naman masyadong (We don’t have too many) undocumented OFWs (there),” he said.

Aside from sea-based workers, a majority of Filipinos working in the US are professionals employed in the health sector. ■

Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez (left) delivers his inspirational message to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their family members who attended the 6th OFW and Family Summit.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

PNP chief orders relief of 24 cops in killing of Espinosa

BY JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer PHILIPPINE NATIONAL Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa on Thursday ordered the administrative relief of 24 policemen involved in the death of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. at the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City last week.

In a statement from Malay-

sia, where he is accompanying President Duterte on a trip, Dela Rosa said that after being “appraised” of the initial results of an investigation, he directed Director Fernando Mendez Jr. of the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management to issue the relief order, effective immediately, for the 18 personnel of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 8 (Eastern Vi-

sayas) and six of Regional Maritime Unit 8 (RMU-8) involved in the jail operation.

The relieved personnel were reassigned to the Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit at Camp Crame so they could attend the investigation being conducted by Internal Affairs Service and other government agencies such as the National Police Commission and the National Bureau of Investigation. www.canadianinquirer.net

“Let me assure everyone that there will be no whitewash in the investigation,” Dela Rosa said.

The CIDG-8 personnel relieved were Supt. Marvin Marcos, Supt. Santi Noel Matira, Chief Insp. Leo Laraga, Senior Insp. Eric Constantino, Senior Insp. Deogracias Diaz III, Senior Insp. Fritz Blanco, SPO4 Melvin Cayobit, SPO4 Juanito Duarte, SPO2 Alphinor Serrano Jr., SPO1 Benjamin Dacallos, PO3

Norman Abellanosa, PO3 Johnny Ibañez, PO2 Neil Centino, PO1 Lloyd Ortigueza, PO1 Bhernard Orpilla, PO1 Kristal Jane Gisma, PO1 Jerlan Cabiyaan and PO1 Divine Grace Songalia.

The relieved RMU-8 personnel were Chief Insp. Calixto Canilla Jr., Insp. Lucresito Candilosas, SPO2 Antonio Docil, SPO1 Mark Christian Cadilo, PO2 John Ruel Doculan and PO2 Jaime Bacsal. ■

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Philippine News

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

DEALING WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Duterte approves purchase of 27,000 assault rifles from US

BY CYNTHIA D. BALANA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE PHILIPPINE National Police will push through with the purchase of more than 27,000 assault rifles from the United States, following an about-face by President Duterte, who last week said the deal would be scrapped.

PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa said on Monday that Mr. Duterte had given the green light for the purchase of 27,394 SIG Sauer M4 assault rifles worth P1.7 billion.

“As far as the PNP is concerned, we have the blessing of the President to continue with the transaction [unless halted],” Dela Rosa told reporters at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Last week, Mr. Duterte expressed anger at “fools” and “monkeys” in Washington seeking to block the deal and said he would cancel it himself.

Digong, Donald ‘friends’ But Dela Rosa said Mr. Duterte revoked that decision, apparently after Republican Donald Trump’s surprise win in the US presidential election. “[The President] told me to continue the deal,” the PNP

chief said. “The processing of documents is going on smoothly … we have the blessing of the President.”

Dela Rosa did not say why the President had changed his mind, but he said there would be a new president in Washington and “he and Donald Trump are friends.”

Mr. Duterte has regularly berated the Obama administration over criticism of his bloody campaign against illegal drugs, but has expressed a desire to work with Trump.

Dela Rosa said he briefed Mr. Duterte about the processing of documents for the deal during the President’s visit to Malaysia last week.

“I told him the deal was not halted, so he said, ‘OK, you proceed,’” he said.

He said it was possible Mr. Duterte would scrap the gun deal if there were an intervention in Washington.

“If they will block it, I’m sure the President will again tell me to stop it. We’re paying for it, we’re not begging for it,” he said.

Cardin opposition

Reuters reported last month that the US state department halted the planned sale of more

Lacson: Espinosa...

The CIDG team claimed it had information that there was a .45 cal. pistol inside one of the cells at Baybay jail.

Pacquiao asked why the team had to apply for a search warrant when Espinosa was already detained in jail.

“We use a search warrant because of the rights of people to secure their privacy, property, and person. But Espinosa was already detained … He no longer had privacy,” Pacquiao said.

He pointed out that Espinosa could have been a valuable witness who could point to people involved in illegal drugs.

He also called on police officers to steer clear of the drug trade, asking several officers if they were involved in protect❰❰ 6

ing anyone.

‘Just doing our job’

Marcos and Chief Insp. Leo Laraga, leader of the raiding team and the one who shot Espinosa dead, said they had no involvement in the drug trade.

“Trust us, we’re just doing our job,” Marcos told reporters after the eight-hour hearing.

He said Espinosa was a drug lord who wantonly committed murder.

“That’s what the people do not know. All that they see is that the mayor surrendered, pretending to be kind, pleading, telling the truth. But he’s a criminal who killed so many. He basically terrorized the whole town to win as mayor,” Marcos said. ■

than 27,000 M4s to the PNP after Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin said he would oppose the transaction.

The state department informs the US Congress when international weapons sales is in the works.

Aides said Senate foreign relations committee staff informed the state department that Cardin, the most senior Democrat on the committee, would oppose the deal with the Philippines during the department’s prenotification process for the sale of M4s, stopping the deal.

Aides said Cardin was reluctant for the United States to provide weapons to the Philippines given concerns about human rights violations in the country.

More than 3,700 people have been killed in police operations or by suspected vigilantes since Mr. Duterte took office and launched a brutal war on drugs on June 30.

US criticism of Mr. Duterte’s violent campaign against drugs has angered the brash Philippine leader, who almost daily spews profanity-laced tirades against the United States, complicating relations between Washington and Manila.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is accompanied by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Ricardo Visaya as he arrives at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City.

RICHARD MADELO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / PNA

Mr. Duterte belittled the US state department’s halting of the M4 deal, saying the PNP could buy firearms from China or Russia.

He said China and Russia had promised him they would sell weapons to the Philippines.

Not just supply

But it wasn’t as easy as solving a supply problem.

Weapon acquisition includes familiarity, training and compatibility with current stock.

The M4 that the PNP needs is a carbine, lighter and shorter than the M16A2 assault rifle. It fires the popular 5.56 millimeter bullet and is capable of fir-

ing semiautomatic like a pistol or three-round bursts—ideal for close-quarter combat for which police are trained.

Apparently, China and Russia have nothing like the M4 to offer to the PNP. Dela Rosa said earlier that the export license for the M4 sale to the PNP was undergoing normal processing as of Nov. 1.

He said the rifles were expected to be delivered to the PNP by April 2017.

The PNP has an approved budget of P2 billion for the acquisition of assault rifles, but the contract price for the M4s is only P1.7 billion, with each basic rifle costing P64,000. ■

House panel OKs report on PHP2,000 SSS pension hike bills

BY FILANE Z. CERVANTES Philippines News Agency MANILA — The House of Representatives’ Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization approved on Tuesday its report on the several measures seeking to give a PHP2,000 across-the-board increase to the monthly pension of Social Security System (SSS) members.

The committee report recommended the consolidation of the 16 bills, all of which propose the PHP2,000 pension hike, into one version through www.canadianinquirer.net

House Bill No. 18.

The proposed bill seeks to provide financial relief to the two million pensioners under the SSS whose monthly pensions are way below those received by pensioners under the Government Service Insurance System.

The measure also sets the minimum monthly pension from PHP1,200 to PHP3,2000 for members who have contributed the equivalent of 10 credited years of service, and from PHP2,400 to PHP4,400 for those with 20 credited years of service.

Section 12 of Republic Act No. 1161, otherwise known

as the “Social Security Act of 1997”, will be amended.

To recall, former President Benigno Aquino III has vetoed the enrolled SSS pension hike bill, noting that it has “dire financial consequences.”

“More specifically, the proposed pension increase of PHP2,000.00 per retiree, multiplied by the present number of more than two million pensioners, will result in a total payout of PHP56.0 billion annually,” Aquino said.

The total payment for pensioners will yield a deficit of PHP16 billion to PHP26 billion annually, he added. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

Bato guarantees safety of Kerwin

BY CYNTHIA D. BALANA Philippine Daily Inquirer CRIME SCENE investigators, stand by.

Alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa is arriving in Manila on Thursday, after being deported from Abu Dhabi.

The Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are vying for the job of protecting him—from people who want to silence him.

PNP Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Monday gave assurance that Espinosa would live, unlike Espinosa’s father, Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., who was killed in what police claimed was a “shootout” with officers inside his cell in a Leyte jail before dawn on Nov. 5.

Incredible story

That’s an incredible story, and even senators on the committee on public order and dangerous drugs, which opened an inquiry into the killing on Nov. 10, just could not believe it.

Mayor Espinosa surrendered to the PNP after being publicly linked to illegal drugs in August. He denied the allegation but disclosed that it was his son Kerwin who was into the narcotics business.

He was released, but was arrested and detained after being indicted on drug and weapons charges. He submitted a statement linking 226 politicians and policemen, including seven narcotics officials, to his son’s drug trade.

Before dawn on Nov. 5, officers from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Eastern Visayas (Region 8), armed with search war-

rants, raided Espinosa’s cell and the cell of another inmate, Raul Yap, in the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City.

CIDG-8 claimed the policemen were looking for guns and drugs but Espinosa and Yap fired at the cops, who fired back, killing the two men.

‘Premeditated’

The senators heard testimony that the policemen entered the jail at 4:30 a.m. But before they did, they first called crime scene investigators to the jail.

That was 3:49 a.m.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the committee chair, likened the situation to calling the funeral parlor while the patient is still alive.

“There’s only one word to describe this: premeditated,” Lacson said.

Dela Rosa promised nothing like that would happen to Kerwin, who fled the Philippines in August but was arrested in Abu Dhabi.

“He will not die. I guarantee that,” the PNP chief told reporters.

From the airport, he said, Kerwin will be taken directly to Camp Crame, where he will be detained, Dela Rosa said.

NBI wants him, too

But the Department of Justice, he said, wants Kerwin to be held at the NBI detention center.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II confirmed the information, saying the NBI may get the job considering “CIDG people” were involved in the elder Espinosa’s death.

But nothing’s final, he said. ■ With a report from Aie Balagtas See

11

PRESIDENT’S THREAT CHALLENGED

Duterte need not suspend writ, say senators

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO AND NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer AT LEAST five senators saw no need for President Duterte to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus that would allow law enforcers to make warrantless arrests.

Senators Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Leila de Lima and Bam Aquino, all of the Liberal Party (LP), issued a joint statement declaring that the illegal drug problem, against which Mr. Duterte had waged an all-out war, was not a ground for suspending the privilege of the writ.

The senators pointed out that the government was conducting peace talks with armed groups and that they supported this initiative.

“We see no basis for the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and we shall remain committed to upholding the sacred constitutional safeguards to the rights of the Filipino people,” they said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, an independent, said in a radio interview that the suspension of the privilege of the writ would “not speak well of the Philippine National Police’s war on drugs and criminality” because it would mean that the PNP had lost the fight.

Contradicting the PNP

The police would be contradicting its statement that crime has gone down by 49 percent, he said.

Lacson said he did not think Mr. Duterte was serious, noting the President’s penchant

www.canadianinquirer.net

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, an independent, said in a radio interview that the suspension of the privilege of the writ would “not speak well of the Philippine National Police’s war on drugs and criminality” because it would mean that the PNP had lost the fight. Authorities inspect the 45 kilos of Shabu, worth Php 225 million, which were seized by Philippine National Police (PNP) operatives.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

for “rhetorical statements” and his tendency to engage in a “psywar.” He said he hoped the statement was “just a joke.”

De Lima, a trenchant administration critic who has been accused by the President himself of receiving drug money to fund her senatorial bid in May, warned Mr. Duterte’s remarks could send a “dangerous message to the public” and asked him “to stop toying with the idea … in his desperate bid to legitimize his administration’s flawed war on illegal drugs.”

“To concede to this temptation would result to more innocent blood gushing, human dignity desecrated and the basic human rights being blatantly violated,” De Lima said in a separate statement.

State of lawlessness

She urged Mr. Duterte instead to review the achievement of his administration’s declaration of a state of lawlessness in the country for the past two months to help “cure the defects of its allout war campaign on drugs and

curb its abuses to prevent extrajudicial killings and summary executions.”

Mr. Duterte on Friday warned he would suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus if lawlessness in the country escalates.

He mentioned the rebellion in Mindanao, the worsening battle with the Maute terrorist group and the alleged widespread illegal drug operations in the country.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said on Sunday he saw “alarming shades of martial law” in Mr. Duterte’s threat.

The opposition lawmaker said that the suspension of the privilege of the writ might only “further embolden the police to summarily execute suspects or cause their involuntary disappearance.”

“The deadly campaign against drug traffickers and narcotic abuse is not a ground for suspension. Claims of success of peace initiatives in Mindanao belie a brewing rebellion,” Lagman said. ■

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Philippine News

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

Digong, Donald seen hitting it off

BY DJ YAP AND JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE Philippine Daily Inquirer SOME LAWMAKERS believe President Duterte will “hit it off” with US President-elect Donald Trump, but one says the two will likely butt heads over the South China Sea disputes.

Speculation grew rife among lawmakers about the future relationship between the two unpredictable leaders whose ascension to power in each of their countries seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance.

“Because of personality similarities, I think he and (Mr. Duterte) will hit it off. May be the best thing that happened to Philippines-US relations,” said Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque.

The lawmaker predicted that Trump would choose not to escalate tensions in the South China Sea “because of his focus on the US economy.”

“He may be more protectionist to Chinese goods but will care less about foreign policy,” Roque said.

‘Long live’ Trump

In Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Duterte congratulated Trump on his election win and said he would stop quarreling with the United States, recalling his anger at the Obama administration for criticizing him about human rights abuses in connection with his deadly war on drugs.

“I would like to congratulate Mr. Donald Trump. Long live,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech to the Filipino community during a visit to Malaysia.

“We are both making curses.

Even with trivial matters we curse. I was supposed to stop because Trump is there. I don’t want to quarrel anymore, because Trump has won,” the President said.

The maverick leader, dubbed “Trump of the East” for his unrestrained rants and occasional lewd remarks, has repeatedly hit out at Washington in recent months, threatening to cut defense pacts and end joint military drills.

Mr. Duterte, who won the May election by a huge margin,

DOTr pursues anti-corruption measures for transparency and accountability

BY AEROL B. PATENA Philippines News Agency

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte as he addressed members of the Filipino Community at the Grand Ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

ACE MORANDANTE / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / PNA

was viewed as an alternative candidate outside of national politics.

He campaigned on a populist, antiestablishment platform and struck a chord among ordinary Filipinos with his promises to fix what he called a broken country.

Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, a member of the independent minority, suggested there might be friction between the two leaders particularly on the simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea. He recalled Trump mentioning during the campaign that he would strengthen the US military, indicating that the United States would try to send a clear message about its intentions in the disputed waters.

“Remember, Trump does not speak well of the Chinese and [China’s] aggressive actions in the South China Sea and criticized [President Barack] Obama for losing the Philippines to China,” Alejano said.

“We will expect bolder freedom of navigation operations in South China Sea,” he said.

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said Mr. Duterte might feel more comfortable dealing with a President Trump than the latter’s predecessor “because he perceives that they think the same.”

But the opposition lawmaker cautioned that Trump, like the Philippine leader, was not a diplomat.

“He has expressed anti-Chinese sentiments. And he wants American military might to regain its former glory. The ‘Make America Great Again’ [slogan]

could be a new imperialistic design,” Baguilat said.

Hostile leaders

Akbayan Rep. Tomasito Villarin said it seemed the United States was copying the Philippines by electing Trump.

“We are now in a volatile world with hostile leaders taking over,” he said.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said winning elections seemed to be a question of the “loudness” of a candidate’s message.

Relations between Manila and Washington have cooled in the wake of Mr. Duterte’s antiUS rhetoric and cozying up to China and Russia.

His allies in the House, however, sounded optimistic about the future of Philippines-US relations under Trump.

“It is my hope that under a Trump administration, longstanding Philippine-American relations will continue to prosper on the basis of mutual trust and respect, mutual benefit, common adherence to democratic principles, and shared commitment to freedom, equality, justice and peace,” said Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

The surprise win of Trump has made the wisdom of the “hedging” strategy adopted by the Philippines more apparent.

According to the Philippine Association of Chinese Studies president, incoming Ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana, hedging would reduce the risks for the country faced with uncertainty in the United States. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

interest and to uphold high ethics in government service.

Meanwhile, LTFRB Chairman Delgra reported that a toMANILA — The Department of tal of 50 employees resigned, Transportation (DOTr) is com- retired, suspended or under inmitted on implementing anti- vestigation due to involvement corruption measures as part of in corruption. “We will make its mandate to uphold trans- sure our employees will not parency and accountability on have conflict of interests. The the attached agencies of the de- anti-corruption campaign will partment. be relentless,” he said.

The DOTr has launched its DOTr Asec. Chavez stated anti-corruption portal which that it has invited various orgawill enable the public to report nizations and agencies for the any corrupt activities in the opening of bids in the rail secdepartment and its attached tor to ensure transparency. agencies nationwide.

He assured the public that It has also reactivated its Ac- transportation projects that tion Center and social media will be conducted through pubteam to become lic private partmore responsive nerships (PPP) to public conwill have no sovcerns. ereign guaran“Secretary tees ensuring no Tugade will The DOTr has cost to the govlaunched its never tolerate ernment. anti-corruption corruption,” Even withportal which DOTr Assistant out the passage will enable the Secretary for of the emerpublic to report Legal Affairs gency powers any corrupt Leah Quiambao to address trafactivities in the reiterated in a fic congestion, department press conference the department and its attached Tuesday held at was able to acagencies the Land Transcomplish the nationwide. portation Office following: rid (LTO) central NAIA of ‘laglag office in Quezon bala’ cases; fastCity. tracked the purThe briefing chase of the ILS was attended by DOTr spokes- (Instrument Landing System) person Asec. Cherie Mercado, to avoid diverted flights in LTO chief Edgar Galvante, NAIA; increased on-time arLand Transportation Franchis- rival of flights from 40-70%; ing and Regulatory Board (LT- cut business processing across FRB) Chairman Martin Delgra DOTr agencies by average of and DOTr Assistant Secretary 50%; rid the attached agencies for Rail Transportation Cesar of some corrupt officials; diChavez. rected the immediate review of For her part, Asec. Mercado MRT performance and mainsaid: “DOTr will be FOI compli- tenance needs resulting to an ant, we will never be corrupt, so order to immediately hire 20 please do not corrupt the gov- maintenance engineers; rid ernment officials as well.” the attached agencies of some She stated that the DOTr is corrupt officials and ending strictly implementing its ‘no the seven year dispute over the gifts’ policy for the holiday sea- location of the LRT-MRT comson in order to avoid conflict of mon station. ■

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

13

PH wasn’t...

“More importantly, the 2016 budget builds on the lessons of Typhoon Yolanda as well as focusing on climate change adaptation. This prioritization reflects the national government’s major support for enhancing disaster preparedness and resilience in vulnerable communities,” Abad said.

The total picture of the budgetary pie for QRF, CF and funding for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of ravaged areas reached a whopping P45 billion, he said.

It should be noted that it was only in 2014 when the Aquino Cabinet was given clear instructions to use both the CF and the QRF for capital expenditures for predisaster operations, besides response and rehabilitation activities. ❰❰ 4

*** SUPERTYPHOON “YOLANDA” roused the nation from stupor and apathy toward climate change. The humanitarian crisis caused by the monster storm turned the Philippines into the poster child for climate change.

Overnight, Filipino officials metamorphosed into champions for climate action, joining world leaders at the 2015 Paris climate change summit in clamoring for an end to carbon emissions.

Sen. Loren Legarda, United Nations Global Champion for Resilience, said that because of Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) and the Philippines’ recurring exposure to devastating storms, the country was in the best position to demand immediate climate action.

This action chiefly requires industrialized nations to agree to drastic cuts in carbon emissions, fund adaptation of vulnerable nations, and embark on a massive development of renewable energy sources.

Emmanuel de Guzman, vice chair of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), could not have overemphasized it when he said the Philippines now had the “moral suasion over other nations in championing disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate action.”

It is this perceived moral leadership of the Philippines— in coaxing great powers and financial meccas of the world to foot the bill for adaptation and make deep emission cuts themselves—that would be lost should the country fail to ratify the Paris Agreement.

From outright rejection of the climate treaty, President Duterte had a change of heart after a majority of his Cabinet officials voted to uphold the treaty.

On Monday, the eve of Yolanda’s third anniversary, Mr. Duterte said: “After so much debate, I will sign the climate change agreement.”

The climate deal, which requires nations to limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, became an international law on Nov. 4 after garnering the support of 97 countries.

Yolanda demonstrated that the consequences of climate inaction have left developing countries, with their low adaptive capacity, at the mercy of extreme weather events.

Scientists predict stronger and frequent storms as a result of climate change.

The Philippines is considered a “net emitter,” as it ranked sixth in Asia with a share of only 0.31 percent of the world’s total emissions of greenhouse gases, data from the Senate Economic Planning Office.

At the world conference on DRR in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015, the eyes of the world were on the Philippine delegation led by Legarda as it successfully pushed for the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster

Risk Reduction.

What has changed?

The Sendai Framework is the successor agreement to the Hyogo Framework for Action, the global blueprint signed in 2005 for championing DRR. The Philippines also chaired from 2015 to 2016 the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of countries that are highly vulnerable to global warming. It was formed in 2009.

The climate action since 2013 validated Yolanda as a watershed in climate governance. The provision unlocking the Calamity Fund and Quick Response Fund (QRF) in the national budget for both preparedness and response now allows agencies to purchase and preposition relief goods, medicines, communication and rescue equipment even before calamities strike.

Authorizing government agencies to tap the QRF for preparedness has been a “tremendous boost to risk reduction strategies,” Legarda said in an interview.

She also noted the modernization of the equipment of the weather bureau with the purchase of Doppler radars and flood monitoring systems since 2013.

Face of vulnerability

On the ground, however, she said the Philippines had better prepare for disasters in the magnitude of Yolanda to avoid a repeat of the havoc and paralysis that characterized the 2013 tragedy.

“With the Yolanda tragedy, we became the face of climate vulnerability. The world lent ears to our voice in the climate talks. We were credible. We had the moral suasion. We were regarded as the leader of the vulnerable, the champion of climate justice,” De Guzman said in an interview.

He, however, acknowledged that “not much has genuinely

www.canadianinquirer.net

changed” after Yolanda.

“Many wounds remain unhealed. The tragic memories, the mental and emotional traumas, still linger. There are faulty recovery and reconstruction efforts that leave some resettlements unused or unsustainable, mainly because of the absence of basic utilities and services, such as water and electricity, lack of alternative livelihood, and the distant workplace. Early recovery planning is key and needs strengthening,” he said.

Legarda stressed that the national government needed the full cooperation of the local government units (LGUs) and their constituents since “laws won’t work if they (DRR plans and programs) remain ink on paper.”

Local action plans

Since 2013, there have been only 167 local climate change action plans out of the 1,634 cities and municipalities in the country, De Guzman said. The number represents just 10 percent of the LGUs. Local action plan is crucial to preparedness and DRR programs because it can warrant the legal use of local calamity funds even in the absence of disasters.

“The main reason for the few plans is the lack of competency in LGUs to formulate them,” De Guzman said.

Dealing with the lack of local action plans, the CCC rolled out a capacity building initiative for LGUs called “Communities for Resilience” (Core) in March.

This initiative employed the “strategic convergence” of technical expertise from various government agencies, civil society and development partners, De Guzman said.

The results of this writer’s study highlighted acute problems in ground coordination and logistics before and after Yolanda, which were largely

blamed on the absence of a department-level agency for climate change adaptation (CCA) and DRR. For climate resilience to become a national priority, the study recommended the creation of the Department of DRR and CCA. The proposed department will supervise and empower all hazard-prone LGUs to combat climate change by assigning to them a primary, not secondary, role in preparing and implementing DRR plans, programs and strategies suitable to their locales.

The study also recommended full devolution of government powers to LGUs in the short term, and a possible shift to federal form of government in the long term.

It said the impetus for a holistic national risk reduction strategy through a grassroots approach was crucial for building resiliency in the country.

Any adaptation framework is undergirded by adequate funding. LGUs should also formulate local climate action plans through local ordinances.

Since households are at the forefront of mitigating the impacts of natural hazards, the Philippines’ first line of defense is the robust engagement of local communities in implementing DRR programs and strategies, the study said.

It noted that ownership of the process toward reducing disaster risks and losses is the linchpin of any DRR initiative.

With the government providing the correct policy framework and adequate support system for mitigating risks, resilient local communities will be placed in a much better position to respond and adapt to the impacts of climate change. ■

Opinion

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NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

PUBLIC LIVES

The populist backlash against globalization

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer THE GLOBALIZATION of economies and of mass media, climate change, mass migration, terrorism, pandemics, the global trade in narcotics, failed states—these are only some of the most intractable problems we face in today’s world.

Many of them are interconnected, thus creating greater complexity.

But, all over the world, nationstates can deal with these only according to their existing differentiated institutions, specialized practices, and fragmented memory. In the face of cultural heterogeneity, they have no recourse to easy ways of achieving consensus. Gone are the old repositories of discernment and nobility that can stand above narrow interests and attend to problems in their totality. The modern state is unable to play this role.

The result is a deep disenchantment that is hard to appease.

People everywhere feel insecure, betrayed, abandoned, and resentful. They blame their governments, the politicians, the Establishment, the oligarchy, and the mainstream media. They begin to believe there is a conspiracy foisted on the whole nation by the rapacious few that control the levers of power, wealth,

Philippines. But, there are com- without any doubt, authoritarian. and communication.

This is a worldwide trend that is mon elements we can point to that It sees in the willful strongman hospitable to extreme measures. In permit us to put Trumpism and a tool to break the gridlock that another era, it would have been the Dutertismo under the same cat- afflicts modern constitutional democracies. In the face of what perfect moment for the radical Left egory.

First, as ironic as it may seem, it perceives to be a state of emerto intervene. But the Left, too, has been effectively marginalized. And what we are dealing with here is a gency, it has little regard for legal even where it has won elections, as revolt against modern politics it- technicalities, bureaucratic rein Greece and in some Latin Amer- self—its parties, its conventions, its quirements, and indeed, for the ican countries, socialists have been self-descriptions, its rules and ritu- kind of rational policy planning struggling to keep their increasing- als, its modes of representation, its that has been the hallmark of courtesies and nuances. Trump’s modern governance. ly enfeebled grip on government.

Third, it is myopic. It denies not As a rule, leftwing parties have stunning victory in the recent US not done very well in the face of this presidential election is as much a just the reality of climate change global crisis in leadership. They repudiation of the Republican Par- but, indeed, of the global scale and interconnectedhave not been ness of humanable to connect ity’s problems. It with publics that [The internet] has created righteous publics that imagine refuses to be bothare more likely to themselves in possession not only of the one correct view of reality ered, for example, draw their activist but also of the power to act on it because of their instant reach. by the humanitarardor from racist ian catastrophe of and religious bigotry rather than from a shared ex- ty that grudgingly nominated him, refugees and migrants desperately perience of capitalist exploitation as it is of the Democratic Party that fleeing from war-torn and failed and oppression. They could not gave America its first black presi- societies—forgetting how the rest respond to the populist quest for dent. The moving force behind of the world has been complicit in charismatic strongmen who would this phenomenon is populism—the their failure. All that this populist steer society out of a world system same kind that propelled Rodrigo reaction sees is the urgent need to that citizens no longer understand. Duterte, a political maverick with keep terrorists and potential terThe practical expression of this no real party, to the Philippine rorists out of the nation’s borders.

Trump campaigned against the revolt varies according to a so- presidency this year.

Second, this revolt is neither export of jobs abroad and pledged ciety’s existing organization—in particular, the resilience and du- intrinsically Left nor Right. In- to bring them back to the United rability of its institutions. Rodrigo deed, insofar as it is not guided States, forgetting how American Duterte and Donald Trump are by any coherent ideology, it can consumers themselves have benworlds apart in a lot of ways, and spew progressive and reactionary efited from cheap goods and serso are the United States and the rhetoric in the same breath. It is, vices made possible by the exploi-

tation of cheap labor abroad. Not surprisingly, the slogan that sums up this inward-looking politics is “Take back our country.” This is not nationalism as we know it; this is nativism—a deluded wish to restore the nation to its imagined precolonial or preimmigration state.

This romantic populism has been around for a long time. Its heyday in Europe saw the rise of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

But in the postwar era, it has largely been consigned to the periphery, the sport of eccentric figures who cannot break the self-producing circularity of modern societal systems.

What has made all the difference in recent times, I think, is the rise of social media. For better or worse, the internet has empowered populism. It has created righteous publics that imagine themselves in possession not only of the one correct view of reality but also of the power to act on it because of their instant reach.

The triumph of Trump, the emergence of Duterte, and, not least, the recuperation of the memory of Ferdinand Marcos, the ultimate strongman, are all symptoms of a populist backlash against a complex globalized world in which ordinary people find no security. ■

ANALYSIS

Duterte plays hard ball

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer CANBERRA—In his arrival speech, Duterte claimed that during the flight on his way home from Japan last Oct. 27, he was looking at the sky while everyone was sound asleep, “when I heard a voice that said, ‘If you don’t’ stop (throwing) epithets, I will bring this plane down now.’”

According to Duterte, the dialogue continued this way: “And I said. ‘Who is this?’ So, of course, ‘It’s God.’ So I promised God to. . . not express. . . cuss words and everything. So, you guys hear me right away always, because (a) promise to God is a promise to the Filipino people.’”

But within a week after hearing the “voice of God” and pledging he won’t swear again, President Duterte was back on the road with a vengeance, unleashing a barrage

of profanities.

On Oct. 31, he warned policemen not to engage in illegal drugs trade.

“Never engage in illegal drugs. S-of b-----, I will kill you. I’m telling you,” he said in Tagalog.

And the following Wednesday, the President cursed the United States. “Look at these monkeys. . . . Son of a bitch. There are lots of air guns. The Americans are fools.”

He then went into a rant, accusing America of intervening in the country’s affairs, and blaming it for starting the word war. Duterte was deriding the decision to halt the planned sale of assault rifles to the Philippine National Police, saying the Philippines could just turn to Russia for firearms. He asked reporters, “Ïs that all they can say to threaten me? That they will not sell firearms to us? We have many air rifles here.”

He must have been joking. May we ask? What can air rifles do to

defend the territorial integrity of the Philippines from aggressive, expansionist China.

From my recollections, no previous Philippine president ever claimed to have talked with God. The question now is: So, what happens next after Duterte broke his pledge to God. Will there be divine retribution for the breach of promise?

Veteran journalists, normally sceptical individuals, wondered whether Duterte was being paranoid or was simply spinning a tall tale to depict his administration as the beneficiary of divine intervention, in an attempt to bail himself out of the international condemnation he has found himself in because of the extrajudicial executions that have defined his war on drugs.

The sale of 27,304 M4 assault rifles was aborted after US Sen. Ben Cardin, the most senior Democrat

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in the US Senate foreign relations committee, was reported last Oct. 31 publicly opposing the transaction. In line with the US procedures on arms deals, the State Department informs Congress when international sales are in the works.

Cardin’s aides said the senator objected to providing weapons to the Philippines because of concerns about human rights violations in the country under the Duterte regime. More than 3,700 people have been killed in police operations or by suspected vigilantes since Duterte took office last June 30 and launched a brutal war on illegal drugs.

International criticism on the Duterte’s violent campaign against drugs has angered the President, who almost daily hurls profanityladen tirades at pet targets.

The blasts against America, in particular, have complicated relations between Manila and Wash-

ington. Last month, during a state visit to Beijing, Duterte declared the Philippines’ “separation” from the United States and his country’s realignment with China. Before his trip to Beijing, Duterte said the United States had refused to sell weapons to the Philippines, but he did not care because Russia and China were willing suppliers.

In Davao City on Tuesday night, Duterte, playing the card of pitting the United States against Russia, announced his administration’s turn to Russia for arming the PNP. He revealed that the Russian ambassador had told him, “Come to Russia. We have everything you need.”

At what price, Duterte did not disclose. The public has a reason and the right to ask himthe question. At what price? He owes it to us to tell what the quid pro quo, the tradeoff is. ■

Opinion

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

15

LOOKING BACK

A past librarian and the need for a new one

By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer NOBODY SEEMS to find it fun-

ny that the early evening “rush hour,” when people leave work for home, can be the opposite— especially when Edsa’s southbound lane turns into one, long parking lot with cars idling, wasting gas and polluting the air.

Nobody seems to know how the man after whom the longest street in Metro Manila is named was once upon a time considered “one of the five greatest living Filipinos.” I doubt this very much since the person who said it did not identify the other four. As far as I know, because of my occupational bias, , Epifanio de los Santos (1871-1928), was a historian and served as director of the National Library of the Philippines after the eminent Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera.

He may not really have been one of the greatest living Filipinos before 1928, but he is on my list of people from history I would very

much want to meet for dinner. former president of the Univer- tion. On the part of De los SanIf we are to believe Wikipedia (I sity of the Philippines, described tos, he had to give up collecting discourage my students from cit- De los Santos thus: “An artist by books and antiquities for himing this source in their papers), temperament, he was a scholar self so that he could focus on enDe los Santos was almost compa- in the true sense, interested and riching the collection of the Narable to Rizal because he was: “a well-versed in all branches of hu- tional Library and Museum. He noted Filipino historian, literary man learning, not in the manner was custodian of many primary critic, art critic, jurist, prosecu- of presentday specialists who sources on Philippine history, tor, antiquarian, archivist, schol- confine themselves in the lim- yet he laid down his pen and did ar, painter, poet, musician, musi- ited boundaries of their chosen not write history while in office cologist, philosopher, philologist, fields.” because he believed that no libibliographer, journalist, editor, As director of the National brarian “could be a public serpublisher, paleographer, ethnog- Library and Museum from May vant and at the same time be the rapher, biograLibrary’s compher, researcher, petitor in the acThe National Library of the Philippines has been without civil servant, paquisition and use a director since the death of Antonio M. Santos in October 2015; triot and hero.” So of its resources.” it is hoped that President Duterte will fill in the position in this how come nobody If you do a important cultural agency. seems to have Google search, heard of him? you will come up I read somewhere that some 16, 1925 to his death on April 18, with an image of a lean, young of the best guitar players in the 1928, De los Santos immersed man in old-fashioned glasses, to Philippines from the turn of the himself in his work and, accord- get an idea of what De los Santos 19th to the 20th centuries were ing to the bibliographer Gabriel looked like in later years. But you Antonio Luna, Epifanio de los Bernardo, gave up “all his other have to go to the National MuSantos, and Guillermo Tolentino. avocations except music and seum hall that houses the work As a matter of fact, Tolentino bibliophily.” While we often see of Guillermo Tolentino, National made a sculpture depicting De government service coming at a Artist for Sculpture, and there los Santos playing the guitar. great sacrifice in terms of fam- come face-to-face with a plaster Rafael Palma, historian and ily and social life and remunera- bust that is as close as one can be

to seeing De los Santos alive. He was described by a contemporary thus: “Physically, Director de los Santos is slender, standing about five feet high, with slightly drooping shoulders… his eyes… behind his glasses, betray the prolific poet… a voice as soft as velvet.”

The National Library of the Philippines has been without a director since the death of Antonio M. Santos in October 2015; it is hoped that President Duterte will fill in the position in this important cultural agency. Since 1986 the library was headed by a professional librarian, which is not bad. But maybe we should return to the long tradition, both here and abroad, to have at the head of our National Library a scholar who can provide direction for an agency once headed by the likes of James Alexander Robertson, Teodoro M. Kalaw, T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Carlos Quirino, and Serafin D. Quiason.

Our National Library and our country deserves an eminent “National Librarian.” ■

AT LARGE

Who refuses to move on?

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer INDEED, when it rains, it pours.

Still reeling from the Supreme Court majority decision dismissing petitions to stop the government from burying Ferdinand Marcos’ remains in the national cemetery for heroes, we woke up to more disturbing news: that The Donald was leading in the US presidential race.

As the day wore on, the news of Trump’s victory in the Electoral College, despite Hillary Clinton’s narrow lead in the popular vote (truly a testament to America’s weird electoral set-up), was confirmed. I crawled into bed early evening, tuning out the TV and FB news. I woke up late at night with these realizations: first, that America is not my country even if I care a lot about the outcome of its polls; and second, that I and my family and the Filipino people have survived martial law (or, as an FB post put it, Reagan and Marcos together), Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, the Edsa Re-

volt, coup attempts, and now the This must be said. Marcos sib- if Imelda and kin refused to inter Duterte presidency. We survived lings Imee and Bongbong have is- Marcos’ remains and let him “lie” all these and we would survive sued—what they must think are— aboveground, nobody forced the much more—although, I pray, we magnanimous calls for the public issue because, well, maybe they would be spared any more nasty to “move on,” forget our political thought it was better to let sleepsurprises. differences, and accept the high ing dogs (or waxen mummies) But, and I am sure I share the court’s ruling. lie. It is in fact the Marcoses (and sentiment with many others, Others blame P-Noy and his their supporters like Du30) who I amheartsick and crushed. I predecessors for not working for refuse to move on, and, through feel, by turns, betrayed and be- a law that would have amended the Supreme Court 9, are waging littled, embittered and despair- the guidelines for burial in the war on history and the nation’s ing. I think of legacy. loved ones liv———— Men ing in the United and women of Even if Imelda and kin refused to inter Marcos’ remains States, their vulgoodwill, and not and let him “lie” aboveground, nobody forced the issue because, nerable status just Catholics or well, maybe they thought it was better to let sleeping dogs (or threatened by Christians, are waxen mummies) lie. anti-immigrant invited to take rhetoric. I think part in the events of the thousands felled by EJKs, Libingan ng mga Bayani and marking the launch of “Aid to the and the legacy left to their griev- thereby made a Marcos inter- Church in Need” (ACN) Philiping families. I think of those who ment there illegal. pines, starting tomorrow up to were tortured and killed during But can you imagine the po- Nov. 15. martial law, and all those who litical fallout that would have reACN is a pontifical (that is, uncontinue to be persecuted—who sulted if Cory or Noynoy, or any der the direct sponsorship of the must feel even more the sting of of the presidents in between, had Pope) Foundation that “helps the Supreme Court 9’s legalistic, initiated such a move? Indeed, persecuted Christians around cowardly reading of the law. the agreement that Fidel V. Ra- the world through the three pilStill, we pick up the pieces of mos forged with the Marcoses re- lars of: prayer, information, acour shattered morale and soldier garding their return was thought tion.” The country joins 22 othon. a reasonable compromise. Even er national fundraising offices

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worldwide, with its international headquarters in Konigstein im Taunus, Germany.

The launch opens with a “National Conference on Persecuted Christians” tomorrow, 2-5 p.m., at the San Pedro Poveda College Auditorium on Edsa. On Nov. 14, there will be a press conference at the CBCP with panelists Baron Johannes Heereman von Zuydtwyck, ACN International executive president; Archbishop Socrates Villegas of LingayenDagupan, president of ACN Philippines; Fr. Martin Barta, ACN International ecclesiastical assistant; Antoine Chbeir, Maronite Bishop of Lattaquia; Bishop Montfort Stima of Mangochi, Malawi; Maki al Jalhoum, lay volunteer from Homs, Syria; and Johannes Klausa, ACN Korea director.

There will also be a Mass at the Manila Cathedral, and an interfaith service to launch the “Religious Freedom Report” at the CBCP led by ACN officials and Bishop Angelito Lampon, OMI, of Jolo. ■

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NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Canada News Vancouver asks court to order homeless campers off city-owned land

BY GEMMA KARSTENSSMITH The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — A B.C. Supreme Court judge is considering the fate of a homeless camp set up on a piece of land owned by the City of Vancouver on the east side of downtown.

Lawyers for the city have asked the court for an injunction to evict the remaining campers, arguing that the site presents serious health and safety concerns.

But lawyers for the Pivot Legal Society, which is representing residents of the camp, argue shelters in the city are full and the camp provides residents a stable place to live where they can feel safe.

The tent city sprouted up last summer and late last month city staff began moving residents into a nearby shelter, but about 17 people stayed.

Resident Stacey Dubois said outside of court that he has lived at the site since “day one” and doesn’t want to leave.

“We do find it’s a lot safer where we are,” he said. “We do look after one another. And we do have a lot of services around us.”

Several similar camps have popped up around the province as the cost of housing continues to climb. A tent city was erected on the courthouse lawn in Victoria in November 2015, and more than 100 people lived there before the court ordered it dismantled this summer.

Robert Cooper, a lawyer with Pivot, said in court Monday that the Vancouver camp is different than the one in Victoria because it is on an empty lot, not an area intended to be a public gathering place.

Cooper noted the site is close to services designed to help homeless people, and said that

providing portable toilets and regular garbage removal would help mitigate some of the city’s health and safety concerns.

City lawyer Iain Dixon replied that the land is not suitable for a homeless camp.

“The city doesn’t have an obligation to provide garbage service and other things to a site that it doesn’t believe should be there,” he told the court.

Outside of court, Pivot lawyer D. J. Larkin said the city does have an obligation to keep residents safe and closing the camp would force people onto the streets because Vancouver’s shelters are full.

“Being homeless is dangerous, it’s bad for your health, it decreases your lifespan,” she said. “And the city doesn’t have safe, accessible housing that’s available to people on offer as an alternative.”

The city has previously said that since the camp started,

ADAM MELNYK / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

more than 65 calls have been made to police, an ambulance has been requested about 20 times, and the fire chief has twice issued orders for campers to remove hazardous material.

The city has also said that it plans to build a social housing project with about 250 units and an integrated health centre at the site of the camp, though construction is not expected to begin for four or five years.

When the city is ready to build, residents of the encamp-

ment won’t stand in the way, Larkin said.

“Certainly no one at that site would stand in the way of the city’s ability to develop housing,” she said. “But that means they’ll need to clear the site then. That’s not now. Winter is coming. It’s wet, it’s cold and the shelters are full. The city has an obligation to keep people safe right now.”

Justice Loryl Russell has reserved a ruling in the case, saying she will hand down her decision by the end of the week. ■

RBC to increase fixed mortgage rates as of Thursday THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — Royal Bank (TSX:RY) said Tuesday it is hiking mortgage rates and making it more expensive for homebuyers who want to take more than 25 years to pay back their loan.

The bank is raising its special offer for a five-year fixed rate mortgage to 2.94 per cent, an

increase of 30 basis points.

The lender is also raising its special offer for a four-year fixed rate mortgage to 2.79 per cent and three-year fixed rate mortgage to 2.69 per cent, increases of 30 and 25 basis points, respectively.

Homebuyers who opt for an amortization period longer than 25 years will also face new rates. The special offer rates for three-, four- and five-year

fixed rate mortgages are 10 basis points higher than for those with an amortization of 25 years or less.

The changes take effect Thursday.

Royal Bank said it takes a number of factors into account when making changes to mortgage rates, including funding costs and market conditions.

“Based on current conditions, our rates reflect the right

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balance between our clients’ expectations and our costs of funding mortgages,” Mary Ellen Brown, Royal Bank’s senior vice-president of home equity financing, said in a statement.

The increase by Royal Bank follows a move by TD Bank (TSX:TD) earlier this month to raise the interest rate it charges customers with variable-rate mortgages.

Mortgage brokers have

warned that mortgage rule changes introduced by Ottawa last month would make it harder for non-bank lenders to operate and could see Canadians pay higher interest rates.

The increase also comes as the bond market tumbles, pushing yields higher and increasing the costs for banks looking to raise money to loan as mortgages. ■

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

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18

Canada News

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

B.C. home sales slide Ontario land transfer tax in October, but show rebate doubled to $4,000 strength in some for first time homebuyers regions says analyst

BY KEITH LESLIE The Canadian Press

THE CANADIAN PRESS VANCOUVER — Figures from the British Columbia Real Estate Association show October was another challenging month for housing sales in some parts of British Columbia, while other regions prospered.

The association says 7,272 residential properties changed hands in October, a decline of 16.7 per cent compared with October 2015.

The total amount of all October sales was $4.4-billion, a tumble of 24.2 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The average price of a home was $606,787, down 9.1 per cent.

Association chief economist Cameron Muir says home sales across the Metro Vancouver area fell when compared with

the elevated levels of last October, but he says the numbers show sales in the metro region stabilized on a month-tomonth basis.

Muir also points to strong year-over-year gains in sales on Vancouver Island and in B.C.’s interior, regions not covered by the 15 per cent tax imposed by the province in August on home sales by foreign purchasers.

“The decline in the average residential price reflects a smaller proportion of transactions in the province originating in Vancouver,” says Muir, noting housing demand remained mixed across B.C. in October.

The association reports home sales through the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver fell to 31.4 per cent of B.C. transactions last month, compared with 42.6 per cent a year ago. ■

Toronto has highest child poverty rate of Canadian cities, report says THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — A new report says Toronto has the highest percentage of children living in poverty of any large city in Canada.

The report, titled “Divided City: Life in Canada’s Child Poverty Capital,” says 133,000 children in Toronto — 27 per cent — were living in low-income families in 2014, the year the data were collected.

It says the closest runner-up is Montreal, where 25 per cent of children were living in poverty that year.

A coalition of groups including the Children’s Aid Society

of Toronto issued the report as the city weighs up to $600 million in cuts to programs and services such as community housing, transit and student nutrition.

It says racialized families, new immigrant families, singleparent families and families with disabilities are up to three times more likely to live in poverty.

Only half of children in families with an annual income of less than $30,000 were found to participate in out-of-school art or sports programs, compared with 93 per cent of students in families with an income of ❱❱ PAGE 23 Toronto has

TORONTO — Ontario is doubling the rebate on its land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers to $4,000 in an effort to help them enter the housing market, but it is also raising the same tax on homes that sell for over $2 million.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa said first-time homebuyers won’t pay any land transfer tax on the first $368,000 of a purchase price after the changes take effect Jan. 1. He called the $4,000 rebates an “incentive” for would-be homeowners.

“It’s not going to change their ability to afford the house,” he said. “It is going to provide an added boost at their start.”

Sousa again said Ontario would not follow the lead of British Columbia, which in August imposed a 15 per cent tax on foreign nationals buying real estate in the Vancouver area. But he said the provincial government will block non-Canadian citizens from accessing the increased rebates for the land transfer tax.

There will also be a halfpercentage point increase in Ontario’s land transfer tax on homes that fetch more than $2 million, a measure expected to affect less than one per cent of the population, added Sousa.

The province takes in over $2.1 billion a year in the land transfer tax. Any additional revenue generated by the increase in the levy on luxury homes will help pay for the doubled rebates for first-time buyers.

The government had expressed concerns about the difficulty first-time buyers face trying to enter the housing market, especially in the Greater Toronto Area, where the average home price last month jumped 21 per cent year-overyear to nearly $763,000.

Over the same time period, home prices in Hamilton grew nearly 20 per cent to an average of $535,000, while prices in Barrie soared 24 per cent to an average of $476,000. www.canadianinquirer.net

Sousa defended the decision to make the land transfer tax changes provincewide instead of focusing just on the red-hot Toronto market.

“My concern is making decisions that do not have a negative impact on the surrounding areas,” he said.

The Ontario Real Estate Association said the increased rebates of the land transfer tax will help more young families achieve their dreams of home ownership.

“This tax break will reduce a first-time buyer’s closing costs and help them save more for their down payment,” said OREA president Ray Ferris.

But Benjamin Reitzes, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said doubling the tax rebates won’t do much for buyers in Toronto.

“Given the runaway home price gains in Toronto and the surrounding regions, this hardly makes a dent in worsening affordability and, if anything, just adds more fuel to the housing fire,” Reitzes said in a note to clients.

Progressive Conservative finance critic Vic Fedeli said the tax rebates would help some buyers, but called the plan a distraction for an unpopular government.

“This is like jingling keys in front of a baby,” said Fedeli, “because instead of talking about their waste, mismanage-

ment and scandals, they’re talking about this smaller item.”

New Democrat finance critic Catherine Fife said Premier Kathleen Wynne had been smart to downplay expectations of government help for first-time homebuyers.

“Quite honestly, she was right to lower the expectations because what we see in this statement is neither new or profound or progressive,” said Fife.

Ontario’s land transfer tax rises from 0.5 per cent on the first $55,000 of a purchase price to two per cent for everything above $400,000. Toronto’s land transfer tax is one per cent on the first $55,000 and two per cent on the rest. Toronto offers rebates of up to $3,725 for firsttime homebuyers.

Sousa also announced a freeze in the property tax on apartment buildings while the government reviews how the tax burden affects rental market affordability.

He said the average municipal property tax burden on apartment buildings is more than double — and sometimes triple — that for condominiums.

The government is concerned that lower-income residents in apartment buildings are facing a much higher tax burden than people who own condos.

“Many who are renters in apartments are paying — indirectly — a lot more tax on those properties,” said Sousa. ■

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20

World News

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Zuckerberg: ‘Crazy’ to say Vouching for Trump, Facebook influenced election Obama says US will maintain alliances

BY BARBARA ORTUTAY The Associated Press NEW YORK — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the idea that fake news spread on Facebook influenced the outcome of the U.S. election is “crazy.”

Still, the majority of Americans (six in 10) say they get at least some news from social media , mostly Facebook, according to the Pew Research Center. While a lot of this news comes from established outlets — whether CNN or BuzzFeed News, misinformation spreads on Facebook just as information does, shared by users, recommended by software and amplified by both.

Sources of spurious information have ranged from news articles produced by “content farms” for the sole purpose of getting clicks, to “hyperpartisan” sites from both sides of the political spectrum, churning out stories that are misleading at best.

Case in point: “FBI AGENT SUSPECTED IN HILLARY EMAIL LEAKS FOUND DEAD IN APPARENT MURDER-SUICIDE” — a fabricated headline from a fake news site called the Denver Guardian, was shared thousands of times in the days leading up to the election.

Is it possible that voters were swayed for or against a candidate, much like those same people might buy a product after seeing an ad on Facebook?

Zuckerberg says voters deserve more credit.

During an interview Thursday with “The Facebook Effect” author David Kirkpatrick, Zuckerberg said idea that people voted the way they did because of bogus information on Facebook shows a “profound lack of empathy” for supporters of Donald Trump.

“Voters make decisions based on their lived experience,” he said.

Given the acerbic political contest from which the country just emerged, when countless longtime friends, even family, were unfriended, many are left to wonder if there would be an alternative American history being written today if it were not for Facebook, Twitter and

BY KATHLEEN HENNESSEY The Associated Press

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

the like.

This, after all, was the first truly social media election, playing out on Twitter and Facebook as much or more than it did on major networks, in living rooms and around watercoolers.

But isn’t social media just a reflection of our world as it exists? Has Facebook become an easy scapegoat when the answer is far more complex?

While Pew found that many believe political discussions on social media to be “uniquely angry and disrespectful,” a comparable number have the same impression of face-to-face conversations when it comes to Democrats, the GOP, or another party.

Filter bubble?

When it comes to Facebook users, Zuckerberg said almost everyone has friends on the “other side.” Even if 90 per cent of your friends are Democrats, for example, 10 per cent will be Republican. Still, that’s not a very big number, and the idea of a “filter bubble” — that social media allows people to surround themselves only with the people and ideas with whom they agree, has been a hot topic this election cycle.

“By far the biggest filter in the system is not that the content isn’t there, that you don’t have friends who support the other candidate or that are of another religion,” Zuckerberg said. “But it’s that you just don’t click on it. You actually tune it out when you see it. I don’t know what to do about that.”

C FLANIGAN / TECHCRUNCH / WIREIMAGE

A difficult line?

Facebook has long denied that it’s a publisher or a media company, or that it acts remotely like either. Its cheery slogan — to make the world more “open and connected” — seemingly invites a broad range of viewpoints, diverse, lively discussion and the free flow of information, rather than censorship.

But it could also make clamping down on fake news difficult.

At a time when everyone seems entitled, not just to their own opinions, but to their own facts, one person’s misleading headline might be another person’s heartfelt truth.

“We take misinformation on Facebook very seriously,” Adam Mosseri, the executive in charge of Facebook’s news feed, said in a statement to the tech blog TechCrunch this week. “We value authentic communication, and hear consistently from those who use Facebook that they prefer not to see misinformation.”

Facebook acknowledges that it has more work to do, and it seems to be putting a lot of faith in the power of data, artificial intelligence and algorithms as the solution.

Over the summer, Facebook fired the small group of journalists in charge of its “trending” items and replaced them with an algorithm. The catalyst appeared to be a report in a tech blog, based on an anonymous source, that the editors routinely suppressed conservative viewpoints.

Subsequently, fake stories ahead of the election began to trend. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

WASHINGTON — Vouching for the successor he never imagined having, President Barack Obama on Monday sought to reassure an anxious nation and world that Donald Trump would maintain America’s alliances and its status as the “indispensable nation.” He credited the president-elect for tapping into American voters’ anxiety and enthusiasm.

“Do I have concerns?” Obama added. “Absolutely.”

Speaking at a White House news conference before a threenation trip that was supposed to be his grand valedictory tour, Obama pointedly refused to criticize Trump, who only a week ago Obama said was “woefully unprepared for the job” and couldn’t “handle the nuclear codes.”

Instead, Obama did his best to soothe the pangs of uncertainty at home and abroad after a divisive campaign that included charges of racism, sexism and other offensive rhetoric, and questions from Trump about the validity of the United States’ security relationships in Europe and Asia.

“There is enormous continuity ... that makes us that indispensable nation when it comes to maintaining order around the world,” Obama said. Relationships and policies go beyond presidents, he said, adding that military officials, diplomats and intelligence officers would cooperate with their foreign counterparts as before.

In his White House meeting with Trump last week, Obama said the Republican “expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships,” including “strong and robust NATO” partnerships.

It was a sharp change in tone for Obama, who regularly mocked Trump’s candidacy in the last days before the election, even accusing the billionaire businessman and former reality television star of helping the Islamic State group with his rhetoric about Muslims and undermining U.S. democracy through his claims of a “rigged” election. At the time, almost all

polls showed Democrat Hillary Clinton leading Trump.

Asked about one of Trump’s most contentious moves since his triumph, appointing Steve Bannon as chief strategist and senior adviser, Obama said it was up to the president-elect to appoint a team that will serve him well.

“It takes a while for people to reconcile themselves with that new reality,” Obama said of the choice of Bannon, a man celebrated by the white nationalist movement. Of Trump, Obama said “it’s important for us to let him make his decisions.” But adding a hint of worry, Obama said he counselled Trump during their White House meeting: “It’s really important to send some signals of unity.”

Whereas Obama hailed Trump’s “impressive” ability to speak to voters, he also delivered a subtle critique of Clinton’s campaign.

He said Democrats must broaden their focus beyond just swing states after an election that left the Senate and House in Republican hands, as well as most of the nation’s governor’s mansions.

He rejected the idea that demographic advantages would lead to all-but-assured victories for the party, saying it must rebuild at the local, state and national levels.

“We’re going to have to compete everywhere,” he said, reflecting on his own 2008 win in Iowa, a state that went for Trump this time. “We’re going to have to show up everywhere.”

Clinton kept a relatively light campaign schedule until the final weeks of her campaign, mostly attending smaller events in battleground states. Her campaign focused heavily on motivating the Democratic base of women and minority voters, rather than swaying independents. “Good ideas don’t matter if people don’t hear them,” Obama said.

While Obama is in Germany, Greece and Peru, he said his team would accelerate efforts to ensure a smooth transition to the Trump administration.

He stressed that he would try to strengthen the American economy over his final two months, so that “when we turn over the keys, the car’s in pretty good shape.” ■

21

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World News

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

New Zealand continues rescue of tourists stranded by quake

BY NICK PERRY The Associated Press WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND — New Zealand military officials said Tuesday that they had evacuated about 140 people by helicopter from a coastal town and were expecting that number to rise to 200 by the end of the day, as a major rescue operation unfolded following a powerful earthquake.

Hundreds of tourists and residents remained stranded in the town of Kaikoura and faced a third disrupted night after the quake early Monday cut off train and vehicle access.

The operation comes as several buildings in the capital, Wellington, were evacuated and streets cordoned off after engineers determined that a nine-story office building was in danger of collapsing.

The magnitude-7.8 quake that struck New Zealand’s South Island left two people dead and triggered a small tsunami. It also brought down rocks and mud that swept across highways and cracked apart roads.

The defence force said it had started ferrying people out by military helicopter and that a navy ship from Auckland was due to arrive in the area Wednesday morning.

Home to about 2,000 resi-

dents, Kaikoura is a popular destination for travellers taking part in whale-watching expeditions or wanting a stopover with mountain views. But the quake knocked out water supplies and sewer systems and left people with no easy way out.

“From all directions, Kaikoura has essentially been isolated,” Air Commodore Darryn Webb, acting commander of New Zealand’s Joint Forces, told The Associated Press.

“There’s a real imperative to support the town because it can’t support itself.”

Webb said the military was using four NH90 helicopters that could each transport about 18 people at a time out of the town. He said the navy ship could pick up hundreds of people if weather conditions allowed.

“We’re going to get as many people and belongings out as quickly as we can,” Webb said.

He said the operation could take several days.

Air Force Wing Commander Scott McKenzie said in a statement that military personnel were delivering food, water, diesel fuel and other basic necessities by helicopter. Authorities have prepared about 5 metric tons (5.5 tons) of supplies in the city of Christchurch.

Sarah Stuart-Black, director of the Ministry of Civil Defence

and Emergency Management, said the priority was transporting out those people with health issues or bookings on international flights.

She said the community was rallying to help the tourists.

“It’s fantastic that some of the locals in Kaikoura have taken in tourists into their own homes,” she said.

In Wellington, Brendan Nally, the regional commander for the New Zealand Fire Service, said engineers were completing an inspection of the nine-story downtown office building on Tuesday when they found that a major vertical beam had failed above the fifth floor.

“It looks somewhat like a broken bone in the leg. It’s fractured through,” Nally said. “So the building is at significant risk of collapse.”

Nally said the building was being renovated and was empty when the quake struck.

He said the buildings evacuated included the national headquarters for the Red Cross, the Thai Embassy, the headquarters for New Zealand Rugby and an Anglican cathedral.

Elsewhere in the capital, many people returned to work after the quake shut down much of the city’s centre on Monday. But some buildings remained closed, and heavy rain and flooding compounded the

Map of 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

difficulties.

Strong aftershocks continued to shake New Zealand, rattling the nerves of exhausted residents.

Police said one person died from the quake in Kaikoura and another in Mt. Lyford, a nearby ski resort. Several other people suffered minor injuries in Kaikoura.

Prime Minister John Key flew over Kaikoura by helicopter Monday as aftershocks kicked up dust from the landslides below. Cars could be seen lying on their sides and parts of the road were clearly impassable.

“It’s just utter devastation,” Key said.

Three cows whose predica-

PHOENIX7777 / GEONET

ment captured the interest of people around the world after they became stranded on a small island of grass in an area ripped apart by the quake were rescued. The Newshub news service reported that a farmer and some helpers dug a track to them and brought them out.

New Zealand, a country of 4.7 million, sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are common. An earthquake in Christchurch five years ago killed 185 people and destroyed thousands of homes and other buildings. ■ Associated Press writer Kristen Gelineau in Sydney contributed to this report.

S. Korean political heavyweights demand Park’s resignation, impeachment over scandal PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY SEOUL — South Korean political heavyweights on Tuesday demanded President Park Geun-hye step down or be impeached over a scandal involving Park’s longtime confidante.

Moon Jae-in, former chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party and one of major presidential hopefuls, told reporters that he will initiate a nationwide campaign to let President Park step down, saying the campaign will last until

the president declares her unconditional resignation.

Moon said the people’s frustration, shown in Saturday’s mass rally, cannot be cured only

by Park’s resignation, noting it is high time to replace the current era and overhaul the root of the country.

More than a million South Koreans took to the streets in Seoul alone in the third weekend rally to demand Park step down.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and Mayor Lee Jae-myung of Seongnam city in Gyeonggi province, who are two major

presidential hopefuls of the main opposition party, welcomed Moon’s proposal and expressed willingness to join the campaign.

Ahn Cheol-soo, former chairman of the minor opposition People’s Party, said that President Park’s resignation is a way to save the country, urging the scandal-hit president to declare a political resignation before being investigated by prosecutors.

Prosecutors requested a direct probe into President Park no later than Wednesday, but Park’s attorney asked its delay, citing lack www.canadianinquirer.net

of time and preparations.

Rival parties on Monday agreed to a bill to appoint an independent counsel who will investigate the scandal involving Choi Soon-sil, the president’s decades-long friend suspected of meddling in state affairs behind the scenes.

Under the country’s constitution, a president has immunity from criminal execution, but investigation is allowed if the indictment is suspended by the end of presidency. A presidential election is required to be carried out within 60 days if a president steps down.

Kim Moon-sung, former chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party and a presidential hopeful of the ruling bloc, said that it would be correct to impeach President Park as the hurried presidential election, which would be conducted within 60 days after Park’s resignation, may fail to verify presidential candidates.

Kim, one of key non-President Park faction members in the governing party, urged the party leadership to resign, saying the leadership blindly following Park cannot normalize the current situation. ■

Immigration

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

23

Back to the shadows:

Trump win has hundreds of thousands worried they must hide

BY ALEXANDER PANETTA The Canadian Press WASHINGTON — A feeling of dread is rippling through one particular group in the United States, as hundreds of thousands of young people fear they might have to hide in society’s shadows during a Donald Trump presidency.

It’s a sudden shock.

More than 800,000 young people have just left those shadows at the invitation of President Barack Obama — as children, they were brought illegally to the U.S. by their parents, and Obama allowed them to apply for work permits.

Now the U.S. government has their personal information.

As the election results rolled in, fear set in. The presidentelect is threatening to deport them. Trump’s platform promises to terminate the Obama executive order that let them work; triple the number of immigration officers; and accelerate deportations.

A headline in the conservative Washington Examiner referred Friday to the group as a sitting target: “(A) deportation hit list.”

That includes one young woman protesting outside Trump’s hotel in Washington this week. She declined to be interviewed out of fear of being exposed. Immigration lawyers are urging people to avoid sharing their information.

The National Immigration Law Center has posted instructions on its website under the all-caps headline: “IMPORTANT NOTICE — PLEASE READ.” It instructs people to stop applying for these permits.

It also advises young people to remain silent if arrested, and request an attorney. If they’re guarding young children, they should make emergency plans for someone to care for them.

They are also advised to memorize phone numbers for a lawyer or family members.

Another protester outside the hotel was American, free to speak on behalf of worried friends.

“It’s a dangerous place to be

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09 Nov 16 onwards Pageant with A Cause: Little Miss Philippines Canada, Miss Philippines Canada, Miss Teen Philippines Canada, Mrs. Philippines Canada or Little Mr. Philippines Canada Pageant Philippine Canadian Charitable Foundation (PCCF) Toronto, Canada — to be undocumented and be out,” said Flannery Wasson, holding up a sign outside the hotel entrance.

“So I’ve been trying to help as much as possible.”

Wasson said she has a friend with a master’s degree, another who’s finished college, and a third who’s lived in the U.S. for as far back as his memory goes — all of them now living under a new cloud of uncertainty.

She said she recalled people crying the day Obama’s executive order gave them new stability.

The 2012 order titled Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, best-known under its acronym, “DACA,” applies to people who were under 16 when they arrived in the U.S., before 2007; are studying or have graduated high school; have served in the military; and have no criminal felonies or repeat misdemeanours on their record.

They can get two-year, renewable work permits — and at least 819,512 have, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, with about 50,000 rejected. These youngsters are just a fraction of the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S. More than two-thirds of applicants are from Mexico.

Most of the rest are from Latin America. Thousands are also from South Korea, India, and the Philippines.

Many people doubt Trump will carry out deportations that will rip apart families, communities and workplaces — especially not for this group, com-

prising people who came to the U.S. as children; don’t all speak Spanish; and in many cases only know this country.

Yet that threat remains on his website. “(He will) immediately terminate President Obama’s... illegal executive amnesties. All immigration laws will be enforced,” says the Trump platform.

“Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country.”

To many Americans, it’s a development worth celebrating. One group urging reduced immigration published a blog post saying it was foolish of these people to apply in the first place.

“I was surprised anyone would be stupid enough to sign up,” said the post from John Miano, who has studied and written about the negative relationship between low-skilled immigration and workers’ wages.

“Yet apparently hundreds of thousands of people did... Now that the election is over and it is clear that (the executive orders) will soon be kaput, people are beginning to realize that (they) have created a list of prime candidates for deportation with names, addresses, and an admission of illegal alien status.”

Others are preparing.

Wasson is gathering information and sharing it with friends.

“Experts are saying right now, keep your documents close to you. Make sure you have a safety plan. Make sure you’ve talked to someone,” she said.

“It’s that dire of a situation.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

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“Now is definitely not the time to reduce city spending on critical services and programs.” ■

24

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Entertainment Jessy on Angel: No way will we ever be chummy

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer

She said Luis has asked her to call “momsie” his mom, Lipa Rep. Vilma Santos.

“I couldn’t. I was too shy to do it. I called her Congresswoman,” Jessy recalled. “The family was so warm to me. Senator Ralph (Recto) was so nice.”

“I’M OPEN to meeting her,” said Jessy Mendiola when asked whether she could be friends with Angel Locsin, the ex-girlfriend of her rumored boyfriend, Luis Manzano.

Nicknames “But I don’t think we’ll ever Luis calls her “Chops,” while be chummy,” Jessy admitted she refers to him as “Choke.” at a recent media gathering for She told reporters to just ask the gag show, “Banana Sundae,” Luis what the terms meant, but where she is a we are assuming mainstay. Angel that these are was supposed to terminologies have a guest apin mixed marpearance in the tial arts, which show, but the It’s such a is Luis’ sport of waste of plan did not push choice. energy. through.

Jessy is now Let’s not be “I would have more open to angry. I don’t welcomed her posting photos of understand to the program. the two of them why other Why not?” she together on Inpeople would added. stagram. “I post want us to Jessy said she pictures when fight. was pleased to I feel good. It’s hear the news a spur-of-thethat Angel and moment thing…

Jennylyn MerI choose to be happy,” she said, cado (another adding that people close to both exgirlfriend of Luis) have “folof them offered them the same lowed” each other on Instaadvice. gram recently.

“If you’re happy with what “I guess that was really the you’re doing, and you are sure right time for it. It’s been a while since Luis and Jennylyn that you’re not hurting other broke up. They probably real- people’s feelings, and that your ized that it was time for them to conscience is clear, then go for become friends,” Jessy pointed it. All the negative vibes around you will be deflected by this out.

“I’m OK to working with any state of happiness,” she deof them, although I don’t think clared.

“Banana Sundae” will be celthat would be possible,” Jessy added. She then pleaded for ebrating its eighth anniversary people to stop posting negative with a show at the Kia Theatre comments online about any of on Nov. 17. The program tithem. “It’s such a waste of en- tled “Banana Sund8,” will be a ergy. Let’s not be angry. I don’t twopart series that will air on understand why other people Nov. 20 and 27 on ABS-CBN. Also part of the celebration would want us to fight.”

Even though Jessy and Luis are cast members Angelica Panhave yet to admit that they’re ganiban, John Prats, Pokwang, a couple, the actress was candid Pooh, Jayson Gainza, JC de enough to say that she recently Vera, Jobert Austria, Sunshine had dinner with Luis’ family. Garcia and Aiko Climaco. ■

Ate Sienna forever

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer ALTHOUGH OVER three decades have already passed since she made her television debut, not a day goes by that complete strangers would still call her “Ate Sienna”—at the mall, in the streets, in the grocery, at work, even in cyberspace.

Well, that’s also Sienna Olaso’s real name—which she shares with her television alter ego in the seminal children’s show, “Batibot.”

“Up to now, I am referred to as Ate Sienna—evidently as it is myreal name,” she told the Inquirer. “‘Batibot’ fans always buzz and PM (send a private message) me in social media.”

She often encounters loyalists who confide in her that she was part of their growingup years. “They tell me that they wish the show is back on air to teach Filipino values to today’s kids.”

An entire generation regards Ate Sienna as big sister, teacher and friend all rolled into one.

She asserted: “I am privileged to have been part of many Filipinos’ lives.”

When she first auditioned for the job, she had no idea the impact it would have not only on her own life, but also on other 1980s kids.

In 1983, an open call was held for a female role in a children’s how. “I thought it was for ‘Kalye Sesame,” she recalled, referring to the predecessor of “Batibot.”

Sienna, 17 years young, was then a college freshman, taking up Communication Arts at the University of Santo Tomas.

“I had mentioned to my mentor and spiritual adviser, Fr. James Reuter, that my dream was to work with Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing, the main puppets of ‘ Kalye Sesame,’” she reminisced.

A few months later, Fr. Reuter called Sienna with good news, dispatching her to try out for the kiddie show.

On her first day on the set, Sienna had a ball with her new playmates, Pong and Kiko. “I www.canadianinquirer.net

Sienna Olaso.

COURTESY OF PEACHY VIBAL (@PEACHYVG) / TWITTER

was still young then and, for me, it was like going to a theme park or playground,” she related. “I was not nervous at all because I treated it as playtime… not work.”

A few weeks into the program’s first season, Sienna was hit by the realization that “Batibot” was serious, real work.

“That was when I became tense and self-conscious. I felt pressured and ended up crying [in the dressing room] because of my fear that I wouldn’t be able to deliver.”

One time, it took 36 takes for her to finish a scene. “I was so embarrassed to my coworkers,” she admitted. “We were expected to accomplish a scene in only two or three takes max, so that the child actors wouldn’t look tired and would still come across as natural on camera.”

That day, their first scene in the show’s courtyard, “everything went wrong.” There were technical glitches, and Sienna got rattled.

She, however, stumbled on an important life lesson that day.

“I realized I had to strike the perfect balance between fun and work,” she asserted. “I needed to prepare and be aware of the show’s requirements. I should memorize my lines, re-

hearse my dance steps, practice my songs.”

But it was also vital to relish each moment, she noted. After all, not everyone got to work with a gravelly voiced monkey and a gentle giant of a turtle.

“I enjoyed every minute with them,” she remarked. “Being with Pong, Kiko, Manang Bola and the whole ‘Batibot’ gang never felt like work for me.”

The human cast members, led by Kuya Mario (played by the late Junix Inocian) and Kuya Bodjie (Pascua), were just as playful on the set. They joked around until the last minute— as if savoring the sight of Sienna panicking as the countdown for the actual take commenced.

“That was their way of showing cariño brutal.”

She fondly remembers the live shows, the Christmas specials, in big venues like the Araneta Coliseum, Folk Arts Theater and the Ultra.

She acknowledged that she got goosebumps, hearing “thousands of kids chanting the show’s songs, ‘Alin ang Naiba’ and ‘Ako ay Kapitbahay.’”

“The kids were so engaged— singing, dancing, clapping and cheering along with us,” she ❱❱ PAGE 38 Ate Sienna

Entertainment

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

25

Gifts for the ‘Hamilton’ obsessed? Choices are plentiful

BY LEANNE ITALIE The Associated Press NEW YORK — Hamilton obsessives have had a long time to, well, obsess, but their favourite musical is spreading its wings to other locales and new, giftworthy goodies continue to surface.

Some suggestions, both classic and fresh: Reading

“Alexander Hamilton,” by Ron Chernow. The bestseller that started it all has been out since 2005, but at 832 pages it may feel daunting to theatre lovers who are not necessarily historical biography book lovers. Presenting it as a gift may be just the needed hurdle jump.

From Penguin.

Too wonky? Then gift “Hamilton: The Revolution” instead.

It’s the Tony-winning musical’s

libretto with footnotes, photos and interviews, by the man himself, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Jeremy McCarter. From Grand Central Publishing.

Or “Alexander Hamilton: The Illustrated Biography,” by Richard Sylla. Because, beautiful illustrations. From Sterling Publishing.

Listening

“The Hamilton Mixtape,” by Miranda and Questlove, who executive produced the Grammy-winning cast album. Miranda has been teasing the 23-track Mixtape on social media and it will be out in plenty of time for the holidays — on Dec. 2, with pre-orders that started Nov. 4.

It’s an ode to the hip-hop roots of the show and to those who inspired by it. With contributions from Miranda, The Roots, Alicia Keys, Nas, Usher, Kelly Clarkson, Chance the Rapper, Sia, Regina Spektor, Wiz Khali-

fa, John Legend and more. Two songs have already dropped.

“Simply Christmas,” by Leslie Odom Jr. For the gift recipient feeling nostalgic about the original cast. This former Aaron Burr reinterprets eight holiday classics, including “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “First Noel,” “Ave Maria” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas.” On SCurve records. Widely available.

Let baby in on it

Oh so many onesies are out there, along with cutie bite-size T-shirts and other little-fan fare with favourite characters, lines and emblems. Look for sippy cups emblazoned with the visage of the man himself in full colour, along with pacifiers.

For older kids, take your choice of shirts, mugs, phone cases, notebooks. We could go on. Start ‘em early, parents.

Search around for just the right one. Plentiful.

Cosplay

Yes, Halloween is over and no, this isn’t an appeal to hardcore cosplayers here.

But consider Hamilton-mania the best excuse to buy someone a killer pair of black, brown or black-and-brown knee-high boots, a la everybody who wears them on stage. Plentiful, as are puffy-sleeve, front-ruffle shirts just for fun.

A long, Schuyler-sister dress or bright green men’s suit with long coat and knickers might be a bit much, but what about those great button vests? So many approximations out there to actually be worn and enjoyed. Dig in.

Lottery & luxury

Be a lottery sitter, especially if you can’t afford to gift actual hot tickets to the hot show that’s been sold out forever. By lottery sitter, we mean online lottery sitter. Offer to enter

your extra special fan in the online Broadway ticket lottery every show day for — hey, it’s a gift — two months. That’s every day. Tickets are $10 if you win.

Details are here and read them carefully: https://lottery. broadwaydirect.com/faq/ Considering more than 10,000 people per show do this on the regular, and only a limited number of tickets are sold this way to begin with, you should probably have another little actual Hamilton gift in hand.

The show has opened in Chicago, where some hotels are offering special luxe Hamilton packages that include tickets, while supplies last. That includes the Peninsula.

Next year, the show is scheduled to travel to San Francisco before moving to Los Angeles and other cities. Look ahead if you’re hoping to gift tickets or hotel packages. ■

Good vibes, no TV cameras make Governors Awards a hot ticket

BY SANDY COHEN The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — After accepting the first Academy Award ever given for casting, 88-yearold Lynn Stalmaster spontaneously danced onstage with Jeff Bridges.

Bridges called Stalmaster “the master caster, man,” as he presented the casting director with an honorary Oscar on Saturday at the film academy’s Governors Awards. He held his hand as they left the stage.

The Academy Awards may be the jewel in Hollywood’s awards-season crown, but the Governors Awards has become the hottest ticket in town. Packed with industry veterans and awards hopefuls, the untelevised ceremony is a feel-good schmooze-fest that celebrates the most venerable and often overlooked filmmaking talents while welcoming the next crop of potential nominees.

Besides Stalmaster, the eighth annual event honoured action star v, film editor Anne

V. Coates and documentarian Frederick Wiseman with honorary Academy Awards recognizing lifetime achievement.

Joining the party were actors and directors from such buzzy new films as “La La Land,” “Loving” and “Manchester By the Sea,” with guests including Emma Stone, Joel Edgerton, Michelle Williams, Ava DuVernay, Lupita Nyong’o, Andrew Garfield, Marion Cotillard, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Helen Mirren, Sylvester Stallone and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Stalmaster was visibly moved by his Oscar moment. No Oscar category exists for casting directors, who only formed a branch within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences three years ago.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d be standing here,” said Stalmaster, whose credits include “West Side Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Deliverance” and “Tootsie.”

No Oscar category really exists for the kinds of films Jackie Chan makes, either, and he was equally astounded to be receiv-

ing a statuette.

The 62-year-old writer-director-producer-actor said he always coveted an Academy Award, but the closest he ever got was seeing one at Stallone’s house.

“I touched it, kissed it, smelled it. I believe it still has my fingerprints,” Chan said.

“After 56 years in the film industry, making more than 200 films, with so many bones (broken), finally this is mine.”

Chan accepted his award from actors Michelle Yeoh, Chris Tucker and Tom Hanks, who repeatedly described him as “Chantastic.”

Coates was introduced by Nicole Kidman and Richard Gere, who called her “the greatest of the great, great film editors.”

A five-time Oscar nominee and winner for 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia,” Coates said she loved her career.

“Can you imagine a job where you’re actually paid to look into the eyes of George Clooney, Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton...

Clint Eastwood, Richard Gere, Daniel Craig, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mr. ‘Fifty Shades www.canadianinquirer.net

Jackie Chan.

of Grey,’ Jamie Dornan?” she said of her 63 years in Hollywood.

Wiseman, 84, has averaged almost a film a year since his first documentary was released in 1967, exploring subjects including blindness, ballet, public housing and juvenile court.

Ben Kingsley urged actors to watch Wiseman’s films “because therein lies the truth.”

Praising the filmmaker for his unflinching perspective and direct style that includes no interviews or narration, fellow presenter Don Cheadle noted Wiseman’s empathetic eye.

“In these times, there is nothing more important than empa-

TINSELTOWN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

thy,” Cheadle said. “The only way we are all going to get to a decent future together is to look at things with our hearts first.”

After 44 films, Wiseman called the breadth of human behaviour he’s witnessed “staggering.”

“I think it’s as important to document kindness, civility and generosity of spirit as it is to show cruelty, banality and indifference,” he said.

Kindness and generosity of spirit certainly reigned over the Governors Awards, portions of which will likely be included in the 2017 Oscar telecast, set for Feb. 26. ■

26

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Lifestyle Post-election, what’s this strange relationship we’re in?

BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press NEW YORK — The election is over, so what about all those frayed relationships among loved ones?

Mothers and sons, sisters and brothers, friends unfriended — it’s been tough for some on opposing sides who must now figure out the way forward. They wonder what their ties will feel like a month from now. A year.

What about the holidays?

Leigh Anne O’Connor in Manhattan already has her answer, and her heart broke.

“My dad just called and said he is not coming for Thanksgiving,” she said Thursday. “I cried last night when we hung up.”

He supported Presidentelect Donald Trump, along with one of her sisters and other relatives. She did not.

“He got into a ‘discussion’ on Facebook with a friend who will be at Thanksgiving and he also read something my oldest daughter wrote against our family members who supported Trump,” O’Connor explained. “My mom was always liberal. She died 12 years ago.

Things would be different if she was still alive.”

In Los Angeles, Tonya McKenzie said she expects her big brother to show up for turkey despite their political differences. She has always looked up to him but anticipates a new level of “awkwardness” after he went on a few social media rampages disparaging Hillary

older sister. Like McKenzie, really suspicious of Hillary,” Clinton.

Until then, McKenzie said she hasn’t asked whether her Loomans said.

Their bond is battered but they had been able to thought- loved one — both are 40-somethings — cast a vote for Trump. not broken, she said, and she’s fully agree and disagree on Loomans doesn’t want to seal not sure how her feelings will specific issues and traits they settle. They’ve liked about each spoken since the presidential canelection. didate, with the “I love my sissiblings often ter.

I’m not going crossing party to disown her or lines together.

Their bond is battered but not broken, she said, and she’s not sure stop speaking to McKenzie how her feelings will settle.

They’ve her, but I’ve alwound up votspoken since the election. ways looked up ing for Clinton. to her and her Though she opinions. If she likely knows the disagreed with answer, “I’m me, it always scared to ask him made me think, oh maybe she that in words. who he voted for,” said McKenhas a point,” Loomans said.

“We’re a Muslim family.

She zie, who would rather dwell on “But this kind of takes that hadn’t been with Trump the more positive times.

For Clinton supporter Taz whole time. She was really ap- away. She’s not on a pedestal Loomans, who lives in Port- palled at his candidacy and his anymore.”

The election cycle has clearly land, Oregon, her ache comes racism. But at the end she said over her relationship with her she hated Hillary more and was left some families battered,

www.canadianinquirer.net

along with Amanda Rose in Louisville, Kentucky.

She’s a professional matchmaker.

“I had one man that refused to continue to date a lady that voted for Trump. I have heard of countless conflicts with dates because of the election.

It’s been so bad I’ve decided not to set up any more dates till next week,” Rose said Thursday.

It’s a husband-wife thing for Bill Seavey in Cambria, California. She’s from Canada and a Trump voter. He was for Clinton.

“There were some hurt feelings that we wouldn’t accept each other’s viewpoints,” he said. “We’re civil people, love each other and we agreed to disagree. But I’m glad the election is over!” ■

Lifestyle

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

27

Emotional damage from trauma of childhood sexual abuse can last a lifetime

BY SHERYL UBELACKER The Canadian Press MIYKHAELA REACHES back in her memory to the summer day when it all began. Her older brother had taken her into the bush on their northern Ontario reserve to join a few of their cousins, young teenaged boys like her sibling who had all been attending residential school together for several years.

They gang-raped her.

She was five or six years old.

As a mother years later, Miykhaela had to confront the ugly reality of familial sex abuse once again — but this time it was her daughter, who one day confessed that her teenaged half-brother had raped her a couple of years earlier.

She was 10 or 11 years old.

Miykhaela and her daughter are just two of the faces of intergenerational sexual abuse, a dark legacy connected to almost 120 years of governmentsanctioned, church-operated residential schools, where aboriginal leaders say many First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were physically and sexually molested by clergy and other staff, spawning a cycle of mimicked behaviour in generations to come.

Extensive interviews with social scientists, indigenous leaders and victims undertaken

over the past few months by The Canadian Press suggest child sexual abuse is an open secret in many aboriginal communities — and its prevalence in some is shockingly high.

“Few came out of residential schools having learned good boundaries, and good boundaries included some sense of selfdetermination, sovereignty over your own body,” says Sylvia Maracle, executive director of the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, based in Toronto.

“They didn’t have any control over that, and they didn’t see people around with appropriate behaviour and being respectful of them as human beings, that they were sacred.

And they were abused, “ says Maracle, a Mohawk from eastern Ontario’s Tyendinaga First Nation.

“Children learn what they live and that was their life.”

Being so young at the time, Miykhaela has little memory of the physical assault itself. “I don’t remember the body ... but it probably did hurt me a lot,” she says, reliving the event that occurred roughly five decades ago.

She does recall, though, how it made her feel: “I felt like I didn’t matter. I was not valued.

I was a thing for them to do what they wanted to.”

Trauma expert Dr. Jacqui Linder says childhood sexual

abuse affects multiple aspects of survivors’ lives, including their sense of physical autonomy and self-worth.

“So many, many survivors talk about feeling filthy or dirty or defiled,” says Linder, clinical director of Edmonton’s Little Warriors program for sexually abused children, about a third of them aboriginal. “And so that dirtiness, the dirty-girl syndrome, becomes a part of their identity, which is incredibly self-destructive.”

And it’s not only girls. One in three of the children who come to Little Warriors’ Be Brave Camp for intensive therapy to treat abuse-related post-traumatic stress disorder are boys, many of whom may feel emasculated or struggle with their gender identity.

“One of the things that people fail to understand is the magnitude of the damage that sexual violation of all kinds does, but particularly to children, mostly because children’s identities are just being developed at that time,” says Linder.

That damage, numerous studies have found, leads to high rates of depression, substance abuse, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies.

Miykhaela, an Anishinaabe woman who asked that her real name not be used to protect her family, knows this pattern all too well.

Haunted by images of the early incest and suffering bouts of intense anger and depression, she started down a path wellworn by countless other sexual abuse survivors: she turned to alcohol and drugs to blunt the pain of the childhood trauma, which had left her unsure of her identity, unsure of her role as a woman, unsure of her worth as a human being.

Over the years, she has done a lot of healing work, turning to centuries-old indigenous traditions such as pow-wow dancing, sweat lodges and sharing circles to strengthen her identity and give her solace. In her mid-30s, she went to university and has since worked in the social services field.

Living in Winnipeg, Miykhaela was finally able a few years ago to get sober and drugfree with the help of 12-step programs. Yet the spectre of her childhood trauma and the destructive behaviours it bred — along with her own memories of being physically abused at her Roman Catholic residential school — continue to sabotage her sense of well-being.

“My parents thought I would forget because I was so young, but I didn’t,” she says of the incest.

“It became part of my negative self-esteem and that still lives today. That negative selfesteem had me reaching out all

my life to men, to alcohol, the cocaine addiction. I’ve quit the addictions, but now it’s food.

“I’m still that little girl looking for something to make me feel better.”

Still, it’s not only her own experiences and struggles she laments, but also the multi-generational damage that continues to echo through her family, community and virtually the entire culture of Canada’s First Peoples.

“I know every single one of my cousins have been sexually abused by somebody in their family ... I don’t know one Indian residential school survivor that doesn’t use something to try to feel better — not one,” she says, including her late parents, who spent years drowning their own memories in the bottle.

Relationships within families, and often with other members of close-knit and insular indigenous communities, have been “so broken,” sighs Miykhaela, who is estranged from most of her brothers because the trust that’s naturally inherent among siblings has been destroyed.

“Something happened to them obviously when they went to residential school. They came back angry and shamed ... and my brothers were not attached to me anymore. That is the greatest injury because it never got fixed, even today.

“And I think we’re going to die that way.” ■

It’s not all in the genes: Clean living can cut heart risks

BY MARILYNN MARCHIONE The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Clean living can slash your risk for heart disease even if your genes are heavily stacked against you. A large study finds that people with the most inherited risk cut their chances of having a heart attack or other heart problems in half if they didn’t smoke, ate well, exercised and stayed slim.

The opposite also is true: You can largely trash the benefit of good genes with unhealthy habits.

“DNA is not destiny, and you have control,” said the study

leader, Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, genetic research chief at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Many people assume that if your father had a heart attack, you’re destined to have a problem,” but the results show that’s not the case, he said.

The study was discussed Sunday at an American Heart Association conference in New Orleans and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

It’s long been known that genes and lifestyle affect heart risk, but how much influence each one has, and how much one factor can offset the other, are unknown.

Researchers combined information on more than 55,000 people in four studies around the world. One included imaging to check for plaque building up in heart arteries.

Participants were checked for 50 genes related to heart risks and placed in five groups based on how many they had. They also were sorted into three groups by healthy lifestyle factors — not being obese, exercising at least once a week, eating a healthy diet and not smoking.

The favourable lifestyle group had at least three of these four factors; the unfavourable group had one or none.

The results: people with www.canadianinquirer.net

the most gene risk had nearly twice the chance of developing heart problems than people in the lowest gene risk group did.

Roughly the same was true for those in the unfavourable lifestyle group versus the favourable one.

But the interesting part was the difference in risk when gene and lifestyle factors were combined.

“If you have an unfavourable lifestyle and high gene risk, your risk of having a heart attack over the next 10 years is 10 per cent,” but with a good lifestyle, it was only 5 per cent in one of the groups in the study, Kathiresan said.

“If genetics has dealt you a bad hand, can you overcome that? The simple answer is yes,” Kathieresan said.

Dr. Pamela Morris of the Medical University of South Carolina, who heads the American College of Cardiology’s prevention committee, said some patients with a strong family history of heart problems will say “I’m doomed.

Why should I bother?”

But this study shows that “when you do the work, it makes a difference,” she said. “It’s not horribly complicated” to do either, she said. People don’t need to run a marathon, be vegans or “be a twig” in terms of weight, she said. ■

28

Lifestyle

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Canada needs pot impaired driver education before legalizing, says CAA

BY BRUCE CHEADLE The Canadian Press

pairment.

“Of course I’m against impaired driving, but impairment is proven by performance,” Emery said in an interview. “Police already have all the tools they need to detect impaired drivers on the road.”

The CAA-funded study notes there is a lack of good research data on what it calls the “magnitude of the relationship between THC use and collision risk.”

The automobile association release refers to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, which in turn has cited a 2012 meta study of other research that concluded “Acute cannabis consumption nearly doubles the risk of a collision resulting in serious injury or death.”

However a 2015 study by the National Highway Traffic Safe-

zero.

“Performance deficits (for drivers) have been found in tracking, reaction time, visual OTTAWA — The Canadian Aufunction, concentration, shorttomobile Association is lobbyterm memory, and divided ating for a government-funded tention,” says the 2012 research public education program to cited by the Canadian Centre warn of the dangers of cannabison Substance Abuse. impaired driving before Canada But even though recreational legalizes recreational pot. marijuana is self-evidently an Police will also need more impairing substance, many Cafunding to learn how to recognadian youth aren’t getting the nize and investigate drug-immessage. paired drivers, says the CAA. The CAA-commissioned poll The Liberal government has of 2,102 Canadians, conducted promised to introduce legislaby Earnscliffe Strategy Group, tion legalizing recreational marfound that 26 per cent of reijuana next spring and a comspondents between the ages of mittee report on the process is 18 and 34 “believe a driver is the expected at the end this month. same or better on the road unThe CAA helped fund a study der the influence of marijuana.” by the Ottawa-based Traffic The online poll claims a marInjury Research Foundation gin of error of plus or minus that suggests le2.2 percentage galization will points, 19 times in pose “incredible 20, although the challenges” for Market Research managing potThere need to be significant and Intelligence resources devoted to educating the impaired drivers.

Association rules public in the run-up to, and after, The study is say online panels marijuana is legalized. sure to inflame should not inthe escalating clude error marpropaganda war gins. over marijuana’s As the traffic harms and benefits, because it ty Administration — which the foundation study observes: “the is premised on the assumption U.S. government agency called pervasive messages from prothat access to legal cannabis “the most precisely controlled cannabis groups have made it will increase traffic accidents. study of its kind yet conducted” more challenging for road safeThe CAA commissioned a — found that marijuana smok- ty messages to be heard.” poll that found almost two ers had only a minimally higher A random sample of British thirds of respondents are wor- risk of being involved in a traf- Columbia drivers in 2013 found ried roads will become more fic accident than sober drivers. that 5.5 per cent tested posidangerous after legalization.

The 20-month-long survey of tive for cannabis. And Health “There are a lot of miscon- more than 10,000 drivers in Canada reports that its 2012 ceptions out there that mari- Virginia Beach, Va., found no Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use juana doesn’t affect your driv- “significant increased risk of Monitoring Survey found that ing, or even worse, it makes you crash involvement” from can- 2.6 per cent of drivers in Canaa better driver,” Jeff Walker of nabis use. da admitted driving within two the Canadian Automobile AsThe largest population-based hours of using cannabis at least sociation said in a release. study, involving nine European once in the previous 12 months.

“There need to be significant Union countries in 2010, also Cannabis has a half-life of resources devoted to educating found the traffic accident risk about two hours in the human the public in the run-up to, and from pot impairment was “not body, which further compliafter, marijuana is legalized.” statistically significant.” cates police efforts to accurateA Conservative senator has in“Drivers positive for THC ly measure drivers’ THC levels troduced legislation that would were estimated to be at el- in a timely fashion. give police the power to obtain evated risk (1_3 times that of “To conclude, cannabis-imoral swabs or blood samples sober drivers),” said an NHTSA paired driving is complex and from drivers to detect THC, the review of the research, while it will require a continuum of active intoxicant in cannabis. the same study found alcohol- road safety strategies to comBut pot activist Jodie Emery impaired drivers had elevated plement the new legislative says the presence of THC can crash risks of between 20 and changes to cannabis regulabe detected up to a month after 200 times that of sober drivers. tion,” states the Traffic Injury use and doesn’t indicate imThat’s not to say the risk is Research Foundation report. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

24% of Canadians worry about food costs, more than half changed shopping habits

BY ALEKSANDRA SAGAN The Canadian Press TORONTO — A new study suggests nearly one-quarter of Canadians are worried about how to pay for groceries, with more than 50 per cent shifting their shopping habits amid fluctuating food prices.

The findings were called surprising by lead researcher Sylvain Charlebois, dean of the faculty of management at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

The analysis surveyed more than 1,000 adults in Canada online between Oct. 8 and Oct. 31 to determine if price swings prompted shoppers to rethink how they choose pantry staples.

Charlebois said it’s significant that 24.3 per cent of the respondents were concerned about food security for their families.

Notably, lower-earning, lesseducated women were likely to worry more over the past year, the survey found. Households with dependants were also more likely to feel less food secure than a year ago.

“Vulnerability will have an impact on behaviour,” said Charlebois.

He said it’s been a unique year for food prices, in which food inflation rates started above normal before entering into a period of deflation. In September, for example, the fresh vegetable index — a selection of produce

that Statistics Canada tracks the price of monthly — was down year-over-year for the first time since January 2013.

Charlebois, who is currently working on the annual food price report in conjunction with the University of Guelph’s Food Institute, said meat and produce have seen large shifts in price, while dairy has seen more fluctuation than usual as well.

His survey found that more than 53 per cent of respondents said they had changed the way they shopped for groceries over the past 12 months because of fluctuations in the price of food.

More than half of respondents also said they’ve looked for deals on groceries (59.5 per cent), stocked up on sale items (56.9 per cent) and planned their purchases before going into the store (50.9 per cent) as a result of increasing food prices. About 41 per cent said they were finding alternatives to foods they would typically buy that were suddenly too expensive.

A different survey Charlebois and other researchers conducted earlier this year found some Canadians were substituting frozen produce and juice for expensive fruit and vegetables.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. ■

29

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

Sports Filipino boxer defends interim title vs Indon in Australia PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY DAVAO CITY — Filipino boxing champion Czar Amonsot will defend his interim World Boxing Association (WBA) Oceania super lightweight title against undefeated Yutthapol Sudnongbua of Thailand on November 25 at The Melbourne Pavilio, Flemington in Victoria, Australia.

It will be Amonsot’s first titledefense of the crown he won via a 3rd round knockout against Christian Ariel Lopez of Argentina last August 3 at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne, Australia.

The 31-year-old Amonsot, a native of Tagbilaran, Bohol, also retained his two other titles — PABA (Pan Asian Boxing Association) super lightweight and WBA Pan African super lightweight last March 18 when he stopped Indonesian Geisler AP via a 2nd round technical

knockout at The Melbourne Pavilion in Australia.

Amonsot captured the PABA super lightweight title via a 3rd round knockout on Steven Wills on September 12, 2013 in Australia. He has successfully defended it four times already.

Amonsot is also a former champion of the Australian super lightweight, World Boxing Association (WBO) Asia Pacific lightweight, WBO Asia Pacific super featherweight and Philippines Boxing Federation (PBF) featherweight titles.

Sudnongbua, alias “Kaewfah Tor Buamas” is still undefeated with 23 straight wins with 16 knockouts. He is a former World Boxing Council- Asian Boxing Council (WBC-ABC) Continental lightweight champion.

The 5-foot-9 Indonesian has already beaten two Filipino boxers. He first crushed Cristian Abila via a unanimous decision to bag the interim WBC

PNA

Asian Boxing Council super featherweight crown last April 22, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 30-year-old Sudnongbua also scored a 3rd round knockout against Rick Paciones in Bangkok.

Sudnongbua’s first title was the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental featherweight crown by a UD (unanimous decision) win over Indonesian Falazona Fidal last May 30, 2011 in Thailand.

He won the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental lightweight title via a UD over United Kingdom’s Andrew Wallace on September 11, 2015 at Hangzhou, China.

The Amonsot-Sudnongbua championship fight is promoted by Brian Amatruda of Big Time Boxing and will be shown on Australia www.liveboxing. com.au.

Two other championship fights will also be featured.

They are WBC International Silver super middleweight champion Zac Dunn (22-0-0) of Australia will fight United Kingdom’s Liam Cameron (194-0) for the vacant Commonwealth (British Empire) super middleweight title.

International Boxing Organization Oceania cruiserweight champion Mark Flanagan (204-0) of Australia faces Orlando Antonio Farias (31-15-0) of Argentina for the WBA Oceania cruiserweight title. ■

Azkals appeal Davao Oriental to host biggest for crowd support regional sports event in 2017

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer PHILIPPINE AZKALS stalwarts Misagh Bahadoran and James Younghusband sounded out the call for the team’s 12th man—the home crowd—to step up as they bid for glory in the AFF Suzuki Cup starting Saturday when they face Singapore.

Gracing the AFF Suzuki Cup Trophy Tour at SM North last Saturday night, Bahadoran expressed hopes for more crowd support as the Azkals gun for a first Suzuki Cup crown, after three straight semifinal appearances.

The Azkals have been playing before fewer spectators compared to recent years in their last few friendly matches at Rizal Memorial Stadium, in-

cluding the 1-0 win over Kyrgyzstan last Wednesday.

And with the current trend, it will be tough to fill the 25,000seater Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan, to its capacity.

“We really need your support,” Bahadoran addressed the crowd in the mall, where the AFF Suzuki Cup trophy was displayed.

The 30-year-old Younghusband said having a packed PSS could just give the Azkals the boost that they need to hurdle a tough group that also includes Indonesia and defending champion Thailand.

“We’ve experienced playing in large crowds in the Suzuki Cup and the atmosphere could get intimidating for away teams,” said Younghusband.

“We hope to have that kind of atmosphere here.” ■

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY DAVAO CITY — The province of Davao Oriental will host the Davao Regional Athletic Association Meet next year (DAVRAA 2017) which will be slated in March.

A meeting between the provincial government led by Governor Nelson L. Dayanghirang and top officials of the Department of Education in Davao region (DepED-XI) headed by regional director Alberto Escobarte had already been facilitated that discussed initial arrangements and preparations for the highly anticipated sports event.

More than 6,000 athletes and officials from 10 school divisions across the Davao Region are expected to join DAVRAA www.canadianinquirer.net

2017.

The provincial government is also expecting the influx of visitors and spectators from nearby provinces and towns to witness the upcoming sporting event.

Essential preparations discussed include the billeting of athletes and their coaches, sports facilities, traffic management, water and sanitation, power and security.

Governor Dayanghirang expressed his full support to DAVRAA 2017 that will promote sportsmanship and camaraderie among students from various educational institutions in Davao region.

He also asked for the support and cooperation of all stakeholders, including all local officials and concerned agencies to work together for the successful conduct of the activity.

Meanwhile, Mati City Mayor Carlo Rabat who also joined the preparatory talks on Saturday, also conveyed his full support to co-host the event.

Rabat said DAVRAA 2017 will provide opportunity to promote tourism and spur economic activity in the city.

It will also help in the promotion of the province as a premier tourism destination, not only in the region but in the entire country.

DAVRAA is an annual multilevel regional scholastic athletic competition participated in by elementary and secondary students both from private and public schools in Davao region.

Selected athletes during the sporting event will advance to participate in the national games or the Palarong Pambansa. ■

30

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Business PHL urged to seize AEC opportunities for nonvoice BPO amid concerns on Trump presidency

BY LESLIE D. VENZON Philippines News Agency MANILA — The Philippines needs to take advantage of the benefits available from ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) for non-voice business process outsourcing (BPO) services to continue generating jobs, even if United States (US) Presidentelect Donald Trump implement a US protectionist job policy.

“We have not taken advantage, full advantage of AEC,” said National Economic

and Development Authority (NEDA) Deputy DirectorGeneral Rosemarie Edillon in a press briefing on Tuesday.

Edillon noted that even before the US elections, the country’s BPO sector has already mapped out a roadmap to be able to graduate into the higher level business process management.

She said the country should expand the non-voice components of the sector, including creatives, medical and legal transcriptions and accounting and bookkeeping.

Call center or voice operations comprise bulk of the BPO sector, boosted by the higher demand for services from English-speaking industrialized countries such as the US. To ease the impact of Trump’s protectionism policy, the NEDA official also underscored the need for the country to diversify its export markets.

For his part, Ateneo de Manila professor and economist Dr. Alvin Ang said the Philippines should strengthen its manufacturing sector to attract more investors.

“That’s a big opportunity to strengthen our own so that we will be less dependent outside,” he said in an interview.

Ang believes that Trump’s “America first policy” will have minimal impact on the economy.

He explained that the new US president wanted to bring back manufacturing jobs, while the Philippines provides services.

Ang also attributed the weakening of the peso and the stock market to Trump presidency. “(These are) weakening because of perception. As long

as Trump has not settled yet, there are threats that these will weaken further,” he said.

But the economist is also optimistic that the peso depreciation will not be too much, owing to the growth in remittances from the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the contributions of exports and BPO sectors.

“So fundamentally, the peso is stable because we are not trade-related,” he said, adding countries which sell products to the US will be most affected. ■

India’s currency swap sets off endless lines of frustration

BY TIM SULLIVAN The Associated Press NEW DELHI — The first people showed up at the bank long before dawn, forming a line in the cold and the smog and silently waiting for the chance to withdraw their own money. They left more than seven hours later, each holding the handful of bills, worth $60 at the very most, that they’d been allowed to take home.

By midday, the lines snaked back and forth across the parking lot outside the Axis Bank branch in central New Delhi.

Occasionally, a policeman carrying a long bamboo club would slap someone who stepped out of line. No one complained. In a crowd like this, largely working-class and uneducated, no one talks back to a policeman.

Especially not one carrying a club.

“They keep telling us that that this is good, and maybe they’re right,” said Shahida Parveen, a 36-year-old woman whose family had almost no usable money left. “But I don’t see anything good happening.”

This is just one bank, in one city, in a country of 1.3 billion people, millions of them in-

creasingly desperate for cash amid a chaotic government effort to crack down on corruption by banning high-denomination currency notes.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in a surprise nighttime TV address that all 500- and 1,000-rupee notes, worth about $7.50 and $15, would be withdrawn immediately from circulation, a move designed to fight corruption and target people who have been dodging taxes by holding immense stockpiles of cash, known in India as “black money.”

In a nation hobbled by corruption, and where less than 3 per cent of people file tax returns, the plan at first earned widespread approval.

But as the days ticked by, it became increasingly clear that the government was ill-prepared for a plan that suddenly pulled 86 per cent of the country’s money supply out of circulation.

Families began hoarding small-denomination currency, merchants reported plummeting business and salaries went unpaid. Many businesses were refusing to accept the only new note rushed into circulation, worth 2,000 rupees, be-

As the days ticked by, it became increasingly clear that the government was ill-prepared for a plan that suddenly pulled 86 per cent of the country’s money supply out of circulation.

cause they were unable to make change for it. The government says it’s also trying to get new 500-rupee bills into circulation, but they remain rarities.

Modi acknowledged the transition to the new currency might be briefly difficult, but said the government “spent long hours trying to figure out how to minimize the inconvenience.”

“The poor are now enjoying a sound sleep, while the rich are running around to buy sleeping pills” because of anxieties over their hoarded money, he said. www.canadianinquirer.net

But in the parking lot outside the Axis Bank, no one was talking about a sound sleep.

“This is only to harass people like us,” said Parveen, a stay-athome mother whose husband works as a small-time broker for rental properties, but has had no work for the past week.

Hundreds of millions of Indians do not have bank accounts and use only cash. Many businesses only accept cash. “The people with all the black money, they’ll find a way to manage.”

She’s right. The price of

gold spiked in the hours after Modi’s announcement, as the rich looked for ways to get rid of their old currency. Accountants say there has been a surge in questions about laundering cash, with one saying a client had come in admitting he needed to get rid of more than $5 million in discontinued notes.

Others have used a range of ploys, from buying expensive train tickets that can be refunded later, to getting fake receipts, backdated to before Modi’s announcement, to make their black money look legitimate.

“Do you see anyone with black money here?” demanded Chote Lal, 59, who had taken the day off from his office job to wait in line. “Only the poor are getting hurt. Who else is suffering?”

A New Delhi businessman with connections to underground currency traders said it was still fairly easy to exchange the withdrawn currency — as long as you’re willing to pay twice the legitimate exchange rate to get rid of the old notes.

“They can take as much as you need to get rid of,” the businessman said, speaking on condition of anonymity to be able ❱❱ PAGE 33 India’s currency

Business

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

31

After election, are shoppers Chinese businessmen ready to think about holidays? keen on investing more into PHL

BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press NEW YORK — The uncertainty surrounding who will be the next U.S. president is over. But with people still bitterly divided, are they ready to think about a holiday shopping season that thrives on feelings of joy and peace?

Reports from retailers, including department stores like Kohl’s, Macy’s and J.C. Penney, showed that shoppers had been starting to step up their spending in the weeks leading up to the election won by Republican Donald Trump. And the com- In general, a dip in buying is normal before a presidential election as people panies are generally optimistic are distracted and advertising space is taken up by political ads, but spending about a good holiday season, usually bounces back afterward. pointing to higher wages for workers and leaner inventories. in apparel, across the men’s, post-election, we are just going “A relatively happy employed women’s and children’s depart- to see people spend,” he said. consumer base is a willing ments. Like some other retailSome consumers are nervous group of consumers,” said Greg ers, Penney’s business has been about changes under a Trump Portell, a partner in A.T. Kear- volatile, bouncing back in the presidency that could affect a ney’s consumer products and summer after a tough start to lot of different industries. retail and communications, the year.

Donna Jonas, a retired cusmedia and technology group.

In general, a dip in buying tomer service representative in Pointing to the political en- is normal before a presiden- Albuquerque, New Mexico, says vironment is an easy excuse for tial election as people are dis- she started spending less a couretailers, analysts said. Even tracted and advertising space ple months ago. The 63-yearafter the rancour of the cam- is taken up by political ads, but old worries that Trump might paign, they believe, Trump sup- spending usually bounces back privatize social security and porters will be what his plans in the mood to might be for spend and those health care. who supported “It’s my finanWe are hoping that in the postDemocrat Hillcial future that election, we are just going to see ary Clinton or I am concerned people spend. another candiabout,” she said. date may shop as Jonas says a balm on their she has cut back emotions. on buying new “It’s retail books, and she therapy either way,” says Mar- afterward. In 2012 and 2004, and her husband won’t buy shal Cohen, chief industry ana- year-over-year sales growth each other a holiday gift as lyst at NPD Group, a market re- slowed an average of 22 per they usually do. She also plans search firm. cent in September and Octo- to spend less on gifts for her What the department stores ber, from the January through grandchildren. were seeing before the elec- August period, but rebounded Department store executives tion was a bit of a mixed bag. an average of 16 per cent in No- still say there are reasons to be Macy’s and Kohl’s raised their vember and December, accord- hopeful. sales outlooks this week as ing to consulting group Alix“There are a lot of people they saw improvement, even Partners. feeling positive today” about a as they posted another quarter Penney’s CEO Marvin Elli- Trump presidency, said Macy’s of smaller declines. Nordstrom son said it was hard to quantify CEO Terry Lundgren, citing reported an increase in the key how much the upcoming elec- Trump’s victory speech that sales measure, and raised its tion affected business in the was seen as conciliatory. As for earnings outlook. third quarter but that business those who are upset about the But Penney cut its annual accelerated in October, the last election, he says it’s too early to outlook for a key sales mea- month of the period. But he tell. sure after reporting a surprise noted from an economic standEllison says it’s too soon to sales drop as it wrestled with point, shoppers “are in really know how the election effect weak clothing sales. Macy’s good shape,” he added. will pan out, but added, “We are had specifically cited strength “We are hoping that in the a very resilient country.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — Investors from the People’s Republic of China are keen on pouring more investments into the Philippines due to the latter’s robust economy.

Wu Zhengping, director general of Department of Asian Affairs, Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic China, in a press conference Tuesday, said China was interested in the infrastructure development such as airports, seaports, expressways and railways system.

A territorial conflict between China and the Philippines worsened during that period, but relations have started to improve after President Rodrigo Duterte took office in June and reached out to China while taking an antagonistic stance toward treaty ally the United States.

Duterte made a state visit last month to China, where he announced he would be separating from the U.S. Philippine Cabinet officials later walked back on his stunning pronouncement, saying Duterte meant he wanted to chart a foreign policy that is not closely oriented toward Washington.

He said they wanted to fast track movements of people in Mindanao by creating a loop of railway system to create more jobs and entice more investors.

“China and the Philippines have a long and fruitful history. The relationship between the two countries began many centuries ago. We cherish this friendship which started from our ancient forefathers,” Wu told reporters at the Chinese embas-

sy in Makati City Tuesday.

Asked how much his government committed to invest in the Philippines, Wu said he could not give figures for now, saying that it would run to billions of Chinese Yuans.

He said that eight big businessmen engaged in buying fruits like banana, mangoes and pineapples “are now here in the Philippines talking to their counterparts to buy their fruits.

As the strong relationship continues between the two neighboring countries, it bolstered by the unique and vital role played in the Philippines by immigrants from China and their descendants.

In the late 1990s, Chinese companies began to invest heavily in the Philippine manufacturing sector.

China is currently the Philippines’ third largest trading partner and the fastest growing market for Philippine exports.

Since 2002, trade has grown at yearly rate of 55 percent. Bilateral trade in 2006 hit a 33.6 percent increase. The total approved Chinese investments in the Philippines for January to September 2006 reached USD 370 million (2.59 billion Yuan), a considerable improvement over the USD 3.8 million (26.6 million Yuan) they invested in 2005.

“With President [Rodrigo] Duterte, we hope to pushed further our investment to help Philippines races with neighboring countries in Asia,” Wu stressed saying that the economic table has turn 180 degrees on this side of the globe. ■ With files from The Associated Press

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NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Technology ‘Big data’ questioned in wake of Trump’s surprising victory

BY MATT SEDENSKY The Associated Press FOR AN American public that relies on data for everything from where to find the best taco to the likely victor in a baseball game, Election Day offered a jarring wake-up: The data was wrong.

Donald Trump’s stunning electoral win came despite prognosticators’ overwhelming insistence he would lose. And it has forced many to question not just political polling, but other facets of life that are being informed and directed by data.

“If ‘big data’ is not that useful for predicting an election then how much should we be relying on it for predicting civil uprisings in countries where we have an interest or predicting future terror attacks?” asked Patrick Tucker, the author of “The Naked Future: What Happens in a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?” His book examines predictive analytics that aim to pinpoint answers to questions as varied as when a person will get married to how many kindergartners in a given class will end up with a cold.

Technology has filled people’s lives with crowdsourced, data-driven or otherwise instructive metrics and left many convinced of their validity. We look to Yelp rankings to find a good meal and TripAdvisor to gauge a city’s finest hotel. Netflix tells us which shows are best to watch and Zillow tells us the worth of the home we might

buy. Amazon, Google, Facebook — all are ubiquitous presences in everyday life with data at their core.

So many took the predictions of polling aggregators as gospel — and their forecasts of Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency went as high as 99 per cent.

Tammy Palazzo, a 49-yearold corporate trainer in Maplewood, New Jersey, was among them. She’s a political junkie who all day long refreshed FiveThirtyEight, the site from the heralded election-predictor Nate Silver. She purposely sought to look beyond her biases, living in a neighbourhood dotted with signs for Clinton, a candidate she admired, and took in a variety of news sources. Then came Tuesday night.

“This is not going the way it’s supposed to go,” she thought, watching returns come in but not in Clinton’s favour. “There was just so much reinforcement from the media that this was pretty locked down.”

Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University, was among the few who defied the confluence of polls and projected Trump’s win. His model, developed in 1981, uses history as a guide to who will win the presidency through 13 true-or-false questions looking at economic indicators, military failure and success, social unrest and third-party candidacies. He’s been consistently right.

“Polls are not predictions.

They are snapshots and they are abused and misused as

though they are predictions,” he said.

Claudia Deane, a vice-president at Pew Research Center, said many traditional methodologies in opinion polling are under attack as survey experts try to adapt to changing technology and communication methods. She says researchers are trying to find ways to accurately tap into social media or other indicators of public opinion that could enhance phone and internet surveys, but scientific methods are still being developed.

“The surveys are trying to predict the popular vote, and we’re doing that in a country where we have a 50-50 electorate,” she said. “Polling is not built for that kind of precision.

It’s not an excuse, it’s just a mathematical fact.”

“Big data” has been a buzzword for the last decade in Silicon Valley. Investors and tech companies, from little-known startups to corporate giants, have poured billions of dollars into software and computer systems that promise to pore through mountains of information and glean useful insights into business trends or consumer behaviour. David Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University, said it has opened the door to do things that weren’t possible before.

www.canadianinquirer.net

It enabled the collection of vast stockpiles of information all while advances in computing hardware and online networking have made it possible to run more sophisticated analytical programs and crunch bigger sets of data more quickly.

Even so, there’s plenty of hype and unreasonable expectations for what analytics can do.

“Even if you have a lot of data and you go after it with the most sophisticated, amazing techniques, it may not tell you anything or it may mislead, because the data doesn’t have the information you need,” Dill said.

Khalid Khan, who heads analytics at the management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, said people are being influenced by data points without fully un-

derstanding what those numbers represent. He encourages companies weighing the direction of data to also consider — and discuss — “the softer side of things.”

Speaking of data alone, he said: “If you take it at face value, you’re going to get burnt.

Without those conversations, you’re only doing half of what you need to do when it comes to decision making.”

Technology expert Sarah Granger has also seen that overreliance on data and technology, such as people who use mapping software only to end up on a dead-end street. Snafus like that, or presidential polling errors, she said, offer a reminder: “Big data’s a great thing.

There’s so much we gain from it. But it’s still in its infancy.” ■ Associated Press writer Brandon Bailey in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Technology

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

33

Nothing unusual about supermoons, says expert

BY CATHERINE J. TEVES Philippines News Agency MANILA — An expert has allayed fears about the occurrence of supermoons, citing absence of scientific basis supporting beliefs surrounding these events.

“Supermoons are normal astronomical occurrences,” said Dario dela Cruz, Space Sciences and Astronomy Section chief of State-run Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Except for some above-average tidal rise due to the moon’s closeness to Earth, he said occurrence of supermoons has no adverse impacts.

He clarified the matter as PAGASA said another supermoon will occur next month after the

one this Monday (Nov. 14).

Among beliefs associated with supermoons are kindling of lunacy among these events’ viewers and onslaught of longterm problems from altercations during these celestial occurrences.

Dela Cruz said supermoon is a full moon located within 90 percent of its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit.

Supermoon is also known as perigee full moon due to this celestial body’s closeness to Earth, he noted.

“It’s just a full moon located at a closer-than-average distance to Earth,” he said.

Citing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), PAGASA said a supermoon can appear as much as 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than a full moon at its apogee or farthest distance

from Earth.

Clouds or glare of urban lights can dim a supermoon’s brightness by about 30 percent, however, noted PAGASA. For the Dec. 13 supermoon event this year, PAGASA said the moon will be 358,564.36 kilometers from the Earth.

That’s nearly 2,000 km farther from Earth than the 356,621.66 km distance PAGASA reported for the Nov. 14, 2016 supermoon event.

Both December and October perigee full moons this year are still considered supermoon occurrences, however, PAGASA said.

PAGASA described the Nov. 14 supermoon event as the closest the moon will be to Earth since Jan. 26, 1948.

“The moon won’t be seen this close to Earth again until Nov. 26, 2034,” PAGASA added. ■

Can we grow potatoes on Mars?

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY BEIJING — In the Hollywood science fiction movie “The Martian”, the astronaut stranded on the Red Planet lives on potatoes he grows there for more than 500 days while awaiting rescue.

But will potatoes really grow on Mars one day? Although humans haven’t set foot on Mars, astronauts have tasted lettuce grown on the International Space Station.

On Tiangong-2, China’s first space lab which was launched in September, an experiment is underway to grow rice and thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), a kind of vegetable.

Chinese scientists hope the plants will go through the whole cycle, from seed to seed.

Scientists are eager to know whether plants in space — where there is no distinction between up and down, day and night and different seasons — still blossom according to an Earth-based cycle, and yield the same seeds.

“We want to study the growth rhythm and the flowering of plants in micro-gravity conditions,” says Zheng Huiqiong, chief scientist in charge of plant

research on Tiangong-2, and a researcher with the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology of the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

“So far, the plants on Tiangong-2 have been growing well.

Some Arabidopsis thaliana are blooming, and the rice is about 10 centimeters tall,” Zheng says.

When the two Chinese astronauts who flew the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft to the space lab on Oct. 17 return to Earth later in November, they will bring back samples of the Arabidopsis thaliana, which is expected to yield seeds in space, says Zheng.

The rice experiment will continue on Tiangong-2 for about half a year. “This is China’s longest plant-growing experiment in space,” says Zhang Tao, a researcher with the Shanghai

Institute of Technical Physics of CAS, who is in charge of developing the plant incubator on Tiangong-2.

“Unlike similar experiments on the International Space Station usually conducted by astronauts or biologists on board, we designed the incubator so scientists on Earth can remotely control the lighting, temperature, humidity and volume of the nutrient solution during the experiment,” Zhang says.

If humans want to explore the universe, scientists say, the development of life and ecological support systems is essential to provide the necessary oxygen and food for long-duration space activities.

If humans want to establish bases on the moon or Mars, growing crops will be a key task.

But so far, there is no successful example of growing plants in a totally enclosed environment needed on the moon or Mars.

“We cannot avoid the issue of growing crops and vegetables, if we want to live on Mars. Only when we grow plants well in space, can we go deeper into space,” Zheng says.

“If we can conduct research on Mars, potatoes are a good choice. We could also try growing tomatoes, cucumbers, rice and wheat,” Zheng says. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

SHANICE GARCIA / PCI

India’s currency... to speak freely about illegal transactions.

How are money launderers getting rid of outdated currency? Some are presumably using corrupt bureaucrats or banking officials.

Others, however, are getting help from people in line at tens of thousands of banks across India.

Some of those waiting at Axis, like Parveen, were there to exchange their own money. She pulled a wallet from her purpleand-pink purse, revealing two crumpled 100-rupee notes and two 50-rupee notes, worth a total of about $4.50. It was all her family of five had left to spend, at least until she got to the front of the line and could exchange 4,000 rupees in the old currency.

But it was an open secret that more than a few of those waiting with her were being paid to exchange currency for wealthier people.

“I’m not doing that, but many of these people are exchanging for others,” said Sahil Saluja, a young airline employee, gesturing around him. He eventually gave up waiting after more than four hours in line.

The often-shifting regulations allow a one-time swap of 4,000 rupees, or about $60, in exchange for smaller notes to ❰❰ 30

meet immediate needs. That limit was raised to 4,500 rupees on Wednesday. The government insists the system will be back to normal by the end of the year.

Overwhelmed banks had no reliable way to ensure that people didn’t line up more than once, so on Tuesday, the government announced that banks would begin using indelible ink to mark the fingers of people swapping scrapped currency notes. India uses the same system during elections, to stop people from voting repeatedly.

Old notes can be deposited into bank accounts before the end of the year, though the government says it will investigate deposits above 250,000 rupees, or about $3,700. Immense fines will be levied on anyone found to have been illegally avoiding taxes.

But for at least the next week, and perhaps many weeks, hours-long bank lines and strict limits on withdrawals (most people are limited to about $30 a day), mean lots of frustration ahead.

The government, meanwhile, insisted all was well.

The “public need not be anxious,” said a weekend statement from India’s national Reserve Bank. “Cash is available when they need it.” ■

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

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34

Travel

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

Travel gift guide: 3 travellers offer ideas and inspiration

BY BETH J. HARPAZ The Associated Press NEW YORK — What’s the perfect gift for someone planning a trip?

We asked three people who make their living in the travel industry to tell us what they always bring with them on trips. We also asked what they’d like to receive as a gift to take on trips, and what they’d give to someone planning a trip.

Here are ideas and inspiration for your travel gift list from Dylan Thuras, co-founder of the Atlas Obscura website; Crystal Cruises CEO Edie Rodriguez, and John Tanzanella, CEO of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.

Dylan Thuras, Co-founder of Atlas Obscura

Must have: One great backpack that fits in an overhead but can also fit all your stuff, with a laptop pocket for easy access on the security line. I am obsessed with not checking bags — I have a strange vendetta against the rolling bag, it feels like a defeat of the adventurer’s soul. One bag forces you to shed needless items. I love the one I have now by d’emploi, It can stand up to serious wear and tear, I have stuffed a hundred pounds worth of camera gear into it and it held up no problem. It is simple, utilitarian, and really beautiful.

I also always travel with a camera or two, currently a Canon EOS 70D, which is a nice sturdy workhorse of a camera. I also often bring an old Nimslo 3D camera, which is a camera that shoots on film using four lenses to make those 3D postcards you have seen in gift shops.

Now that my wife Michelle and I are travelling with our almost 2-year-old son, Phineas, I have found that a small portable child seat made to be attached to any chair is an essential.

Could use: A great coat. I have worn my two-piece Spiewak jacket to tatters and am in need of a great new coat.

Coats are one of those things it is worth spending a bit on, and make a good “big gift” as you should be able to get years out of a good coat. I love the winter coats that have a detachable shell inside that can be worn as a lighter coat. Either the Spiewak Heron snorkel parka or the bomber with detachable jacket would be really amazing fancy gifts to get. A good rain coat is also much needed, and this all-season rain coat by Filson looks quite nice! I hope my wife is reading this.

To give: Besides the amazing new Atlas Obscura book? One thing I think it is re-

ally nice to give for a trip is a travel water colour set. You can get a simple one or a fancy one and along with a set of watercolour postcards it is a really nice travel gift.

Taking the time to sit down and paint a little scene, even if it only take 20 minutes helps etch it into your memory, and then you get to send it to someone you love!

Dream trip: A trip to Albania would be at the top of my fairy godmother wish list. I am deeply interested in the country’s complex history and beautiful countryside.

Edie Rodriguez, CEO of Crystal Cruises

Must have: I always travel with two passports with extra pages and my international electrical plug converter that works in any country. As a “mobile” CEO I must travel with both of my iPhones - yes I have two - chargers for those phones, and my make-up. My favourite things to travel with are quite simple: healthy snacks to stay nourished, bottled water to stay hydrated and moisturizer because travelling especially on planes and at sea can really dry out your skin.

Could use: I would love a new carryon suitcase. My current one has travelled with me to many destinations and is now very worn and I just haven’t had time to find a worthy replacement.

To give: I would definitely give any traveller an iPad complete with a charger and converter. I would probably also throw in a fabulous carry-on suitcase.

Dream trip: A trip on one of our new Crystal AirCruises 29-day itineraries which launch in August 2017.

John Tanzanella, CEO of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association

Must have: Space-saver roll-up storage bags are essential for packing when I have to combine business and leisure travel or back-to-back trips in a variety of climates. Look for the ones that don’t require a vacuum.

There’s also a great app I use when I travel abroad, CityMaps2Go. Before you leave home, you download the map of the destination. The app doesn’t require Wi-Fi or data roaming for access, but you can still see where you are on the map at all times via your phone’s GPS. Could use: Dress clothes that don’t wrinkle!

To give: A Flytographer photo shoot.

The company uses local photographers all over the world. While you explore, they capture the moments in an informal way. Much better than taking 1,000 selfies! ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

35

36

Travel

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

FRIDAY

Visiting Hamburg: Chocolate, coffee and trade, then and now

BY FRANK JORDANS The Associated Press HAMBURG — For centuries, the port city of Hamburg was a powerhouse in maritime trade. These days, Germany’s second-largest city is still the country’s main entry point for exotic goods. But it’s also a magnet for foodies, fans of the arts and folks who prefer to wander rather than powerwalk their way around a new destination.

Attractions include a chocolate museum, a historic warehouse district and river boat rides. Just remember in Hamburg you’re never far from the water — including the kind that falls from the sky, so go with the flow and bring an umbrella.

Feast your eyes, tickle your tastebuds

Maybe you want to start small. Really small. In Hamburg’s old warehouse district an indoor model railway called the Miniatur Wunderland stretches across two floors and takes visitors on a humorous journey around the world. Book tickets in advance: http://www. miniatur-wunderland.com/ visit/ticket/.

The warehouse district, or Speicherstadt, was once a free port and its distinctive

red brick buildings on timber foundations helped the area gain UNESCO World Heritage status in 2015. It’s hardly a museum though. The warehouses are still used to store goods from around the globe and with a little patience visitors can watch Persian carpets and sacks of spices being loaded and unloaded using old-fashioned pulley hoist systems.

Hamburg has a long tradition of appreciating coffee.

Enjoy a good brew at one of several coffee roasters around town, including Nord Coast Coffee Roastery, http://bit. ly/2eWC4uo.

At Hamburg’s chocolate museum, Chocoversum, learn about the origins of chocolate, what makes a good bean and even try your hand at creating a unique bar of your own. Tours during the week are in German but English-language tours are available weekends. Book in advance via https://www. chocoversum.de/en/.

A day on the water

Start exploring mankind’s complicated relationship with the sea on dry land at the International Maritime Museum in the warehouse district. It features replicas of ancient ships, including a Phoenician galley and a Viking dragon boat, as

well as equipment that helped sailors navigate the seas before GPS and satellite phones, http://www.imm-hamburg. de/international/en/.

Once you’re ready to set sail — so to speak — walk or take a subway to the Landungsbruecken.

During the week these piers are used by commuters travelling into Hamburg on public boats.

For a modest fare, hop on the No. 62 for a ride down the river Elbe, passing some of Hamburg’s impressive maritime industry and not a few towering cargo ships along the way.

Step off at Neumuehlen and head downriver past the charming old sailboats to the Oevelgoenne beach for pizza and a hoppy beer, or coffee and cake, at a riverside cafe or bar.

A night on the town

The Reeperbahn is Hamburg’s notorious red light district. At night it transforms from a quiet street into a gaudy, neon-light affair filled with bars, live music venues and seedy entertainment. Near the Reeperbahn light rail stop is a square dedicated to the Beatles, who spent their journeyman years in Hamburg, http:// english.hamburg.de/visitors/294386/reeperbahnhamburg-st-paul http:// english.hambu. www.canadianinquirer.net

For a less touristy and more family friendly evening head to the Schanzenviertel, a former working class district that became hip a few years ago. There’s cheap food aplenty and a thriving bar culture. Sternschanze is the closest S-bahn stop.

From there, walk to one of Hamburg’s best-known clubs at Feldstrasse 66. Don’t worry, you can’t miss it. Known to the Nazis as Flakturm IV, this massive over-ground bunker was too difficult to destroy after World War II and so it was left standing. Nowadays it’s home to media companies and the club Uebel und Gefaehrlich — which roughly translates as Nasty and Dangerous, http://www.uebelundgefaehrlich.com.

If you’re out all night, greet the day at Hamburg’s legendary Altona fish market. Business starts at 5 a.m. April to October, in winter the market opens at 7 a.m. Don’t arrive too late as stalls shutter around 9:30 a.m.

Grand burgers and high culture

For centuries Hamburg was dominated by a tight-knit ruling class known as the First Families, whose members had acquired a superior form of citizenship that made them Grossbuerger — ‘grand burgers.’ With the title came lucrative economic and political

rights that they used to amass great fortunes and shape the city in ways that can still be seen in Hamburg’s centre with its Venice-like arcades and bridges, fancy shopping streets and lakeside promenade. From the underground stop Rathaus, take a stroll past the imposing town hall toward the Binnenalster, or Inner Alster, a reservoir inside the old city perimeters.

For a bit of high art, head to the underground stop Jungfernstieg and take the U1 two stops to Steinstrasse. From there it’s a short walk to one of Europe’s largest contemporary arts centres. The Deichtorhallen, situated in two former market halls built in late art nouveau style, host several simultaneous art and photography exhibitions, http://www.deichtorhallen.de/index.php?id For a grand finale, end your trip at the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. Completed six years behind schedule and at 10 times the original price, this billion-dollar venue is due to start hosting concerts beginning Jan. 11. If you can’t nab tickets it’s worth visiting for the architecture, which features a wave-shaped roof, stunning glass facades and a panoramic view of the harbour, http:// english.hamburg.de/elbephilharmonic-hall/. ■

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

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Food Make these chocolate rosemary biscotti for a snack or a gift

BY MELISSA D’ARABIAN The Associated Press I REMEMBER the first party I ever hosted. I was 5 and my mom invited all of my kindergarten girlfriends and their moms for a holiday singing gathering. We knoshed on homemade cookies dunked in hot cocoa made from packets of powder dissolved in boiling water. Standing there around our piano, surrounded by tiny off-key singers with crumby, smiling mouths and steamy chocolate breath, I fell in love with hospitality. I felt in my heart the joy of feeding people, especially around the holidays.

Joy to the world, indeed.

As the days grow colder and shorter, and cookie-baking season is ushered in, the caloriecounter in me steps aside just enough to strike that balance of reasonable, but small, indulgence. A perfect example of smart cookie indulgence is the biscotti.

Biscotti are firm, dry Italian cookies that are typically served alongside an espresso or coffee for dunking. Biscotti are dryer and harder than your average cookie, due to a doublebaking process (which is easy, so don’t be intimidated) and relatively lower amounts of fat and sugar.

But the harder texture has a huge tactical advantage: biscotti take longer to nibble your

way through, so the chances of me accidentally downing seven or eight are pretty small. One or two of these little guys, especially with a little espresso, and I feel like I’ve participated in the joy of holiday dessert.

Plus, biscotti feel a little fancy. Fancy enough, in fact, to double as a holiday gift — wrap some up in cellophane and take as a hostess or neighbour gift, or even send home with your guests as a little party favour.

Today’s recipe is flavoured with dark chocolate and rosemary because they are classic winter flavours that I love together, but feel free to play with zests, spices, herbs and chocolate types to make a combo you love. Bonus points if you eat them with friends singing around the piano.

Dark Chocolate Rosemary Biscotti

Start to finish: 1 hour, 15 minutes Servings: 16 biscotti • 1 cup white whole wheat flour • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt • 1 teaspoon baking powder • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened • 1/2 cup sugar • 2 eggs • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon finely-grated orange zest • 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely minced

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, finely chopped • 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine the flours, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a hand or stand-mixer until light in colour, fluffy and creamy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs in, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add the vanilla, zest and rosemary and mix until incorporated.

Add the flour, half at a time, mixing until incorporated after

each half. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the dark chocolate and the almonds.

Place the dough on a lightly-floured surface and divide into two. Shape into two logs, about 14 inches each, and place on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lightly press each log flatter, to make a rounded strip, about 15 inches long by 2 1/2 inches wide. Remove excess flour with a clean pastry brush.

Bake the logs until golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Meanwhile, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees. Carefully transfer each

flattened log to a cutting board and cut each log on the bias into 8 slices (16 slices total). Place the slices cut side down on the parchment-lined baking sheet and continue baking until the cookies are golden and crisp, about 30 more minutes.

Once baked, let cool completely. Can be stored in airtight container for several days. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 133 calories; 59 calories from fat; 7 g fat (4 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 35 mg cholesterol; 41 mg sodium; 18 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 9 g sugar; 3 g protein.

Mini-pies take centre stage as holiday dessert option

BY ELIZABETH KARMEL The Associated Press WHEN I have a lot of people coming over, I love to make mini pies, or “pie cups.” I coined the name “pie cup” when I created a “pie program” for one of my restaurants and vowed to make pie the new cupcake in

NYC. Since then, the mini, handheld pie has exploded in popularity. The beauty of the mini pies is that they are portable, easy to make and the perfect proportion size.

Most people I know don’t make their own pie because they are afraid to make the pie dough from scratch. There is so

much pressure on the cook for Thanksgiving that the holiday is not the time to learn how to make pie dough. This recipe offers the option of using premade graham-cracker crusts. If you already make your own pie dough, you can make this pie in mini pie shells or a muffin pan.

Once you the pie crust is taken care of, you will understand

the meaning of “easy as pie:” Assembling the filling requires just a bowl and a fork.

I add dark chocolate to a traditional pecan pie for all those chocolate lovers out there. I also add a touch of Kahlua to deepen the flavour of the chocolate, but you could stick with the traditional bourbon if you prefer. If you don’t like pecans,

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this pie is also delicious made with walnuts.

Mini chocolate pecan pie cups

Start to finish: 30 minutes Servings: 12

• 12 individual Keebler graham cracker pie shells or home❱❱ PAGE 38 Mini-pies take

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Food

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

After a heavy meal, snickerdoodles are the perfect bite THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA THE HOLIDAY season is such a beloved time of year. The weather turns cool and the snow begins to fall; we spend dedicated time with our family and friends; and children experience old family traditions for the first time.

At homes across the country, carefully wrapped plates of homemade cookies are passed among friends and neighbours to celebrate a year of friendship and community. A family’s cookie plate is as unique as they are, and so often you can identify the sender by the treats on the plate.

Special holiday cookie recipes are an old tradition. In the Middle Ages, spices, butter, and sugar were prized possessions, too expensive for everyday use.

At the holidays, cooks would use these ingredients to make small extravagances to share with friends and family. Cookies spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove were common and have stood the test of time.

It is believed that the first gingerbread men came from the time of Elizabeth I, who asked for the cookies to be shaped like the men in her court.

Cookie recipes have evolved a great deal since the time of Elizabeth, and every family has their list of must-bake cookies. One standout holiday favourite is the snickerdoodle, a sugar cookie that is rolled in cinnamon-sugar before being baked. It is recognizable by its slightly cracked exterior that lets its chewy interior shine through. Unlike many sugar cookies that are unleavened and rolled for cutting, our snickerdoodles contain both baking soda and cream of tartar. Because they are so mild in flavour, they often have a characteristic tanginess that can be attributed to those ingredients.

After a heavy meal, Snickerdoodles are the perfect bite to satisfy a sweet tooth.

This recipe calls for a #40 scoop, which is just about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie, but you can make

your cookies as big or small as you would like. For smaller cookies, increase the temperature slightly and reduce the baking time. For larger cookies, decrease the temperature and increase the baking time slightly. Either way, your nose will know when these cookies are done, and your home will be filled with the scent of the holidays.

Like most cookies, snickerdoodles are the perfect makeahead recipe. The cookies can either be fully baked, cooled, and frozen, or you can prepare the dough, scoop the cookies onto a baking sheet, and freeze them to bake later. Remove your cookies from the freezer the day before use. Just be sure to tuck them away somewhere safe, since cookie radar is strong at the holidays.

Snickerdoodles

Servings: About 2 dozen cookies • 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter • 1 cup granulated sugar • 1 cup light brown sugar • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 2 eggs • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract • 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour • 1 teaspoon baking soda • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar • Cinnamon Sugar, as needed, for garnish (recipe follows) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer

fitted with the paddle attachment, gently blend the butter, sugars, and salt on medium speed until combined, 2 minutes.

Gradually add the eggs and vanilla, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar together.

Add to the creamed mixture and mix on low just until combined. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets using a #40 scoop about 1 1/2 inches apart and refrigerate until firm.

Roll the chilled dough in Cinnamon Sugar to coat. Flatten slightly with your hands.

Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 8 minutes. Rotate and switch the baking sheets as necessary for even baking.

Allow the cookies to cool for a minute on the baking sheets then transfer, using a spatula, to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Store the cookies in an airtight container.

Cinnamon Sugar:

• 1 cup sugar • 1 tablespoon cinnamon Combine the ingredients and store in an airtight container. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 306 calories; 140 calories from fat; 16 g fat (10 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 58 mg cholesterol; 87 mg sodium; 39 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 22 g sugar; 3 g protein. www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

Mini-pies take... made 3-inch pie shells • 1 cup pecan halves plus more for decorating the tops (substitute walnuts if you prefer) • 4 tablespoons butter, melted • 2/3 cup granulated white sugar • 1/2 cup dark corn syrup • 2 large eggs, beaten • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt • 4 ounces 70 per cent bittersweet chocolate, melted • 1 heaping teaspoon vanilla extract • 2 tablespoons of Kahlua • Whipped Cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional) ❰❰ 37

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Put two tablespoon of nuts into each unbaked pie shell. Set aside.

Combine butter, granulated sugar, corn syrup, eggs, salt, chocolate, vanilla and Kahlua and stir until well mixed.

Place the mini pie crusts on

a half sheet pan. Pour the pie mixture on top of nuts just until the first line of the crust (if you made your own crust, this is about 1/4 inch from the top). Do not overfill as they will puff up as they bake. Decorate the tops of the pies with a few nuts.

Place the sheet pan in the centre rack of the oven. Bake about 20 minutes or until cooked through, a little puffy and crusty on top. Let cool on a rack for at least 3 hours. Refrigerate leftover pie.

Serve warm with whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream if you choose. The pies are also good cold the next day. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 272 calories; 142 calories from fat; 16 g fat (6 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 46 mg cholesterol; 84 mg sodium; 33 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 27 g sugar; 3 g protein.

Ate Sienna... shared.

Sienna volunteered that she never really left the show, even when she went abroad for further studies.

“In 1994, I moved to New York for my masters,” she said.

“I recall shooting segments whenever I visited home during spring and fall vacation.”

When “Batibot” returned briefly (from 2010 to 2011) on TV5, Sienna took part in some “storytelling” sessions.

“The show eventually had to pack up because of lack of funding,” she said. “But ‘Batibot’ was shot in a way that it was not time-bound, and the segments could be assembled and re-assembled to make a fresh episode every week.”

As such, “Batibot” can be played ad infinitum… for all eternity, in syndication, on cable, online, even in media and platforms that have yet to be invented.

“In a lot of ways, ‘Batibot’ was my school of hard knocks,” she admitted. “It all began there. I have always been guided by the mantra: Learn through fun and play. Always entertaining and educational… educational and entertaining.”

Sienna now works as vice president-head of channels and ❰❰ 24

content marketing of Cignal TV, a direct-to-home and pay TV provider.

“My experience with ‘Batibot’ led me to pursue a career in broadcasting,” she said.

She dabbled in sports production—doing live coverages of basketball, boxing, billiards, bowling, badminton and volleyball tournaments. “I also did live entertainment shows for TV5 and Sports5.”

She cherishes the halcyon days of “Batibot.”

“I had the chance to participate in a similar production recently,” she reported. “It was also an early-childhood education program that features song-anddance routines.”

It was the local version of the Australian kiddie show, “Hi5.”

She experienced instant flashback in the TV5 studio every taping day. “That project really made me miss ‘ Batibot’ terribly,” she exclaimed. In sum, she is “honored and humbled” to be a “Batibot” graduate.

“I am truly blessed to be part of that generation of Filipinos who grew up, learning through ‘Batibot,’” she said. “I am overjoyed every time the show’s fans, who are now parents themselves, tell me that they wish their kids can still watch the show.” ■

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2016

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NOVEMBER 18, 2016

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